Photograph by Jonathan Pollack, courtesy of the International Institute of St. Louis
“Spinach, lettuce, collard greens, radishes, Swiss chard, mustard, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, okra, roselle, amaranth, several different kinds of beans, several kinds of sweet peppers, eggplant, asparagus, arugula, cucumbers, parsley, peas, beets, fennel, tomatillo…” Kathleen Delpha, president of the International Institute Community Development Corporation, lists the crops that Mang, a Burmese immigrant, grew last year.
Mang is one of the first graduates of the International Institute of St. Louis’ Global Farms Initiative, launched in fall 2010, which trains refugees for agricultural careers. The students grew food in their home countries, Delpha says, but need to be brought up to speed on organic growing practices or on the Midwest’s soil and climate patterns.
Most of the students, like Mang, will use farming to make only a supplemental income. “But we do have a microloan program, so that if somebody wants to lease land or start a bigger operation, we would be able to lend money to help get that started,” Delpha says, adding that the land could be in any of 16 different counties in Missouri and Illinois. “There is good farmland available in Illinois—family farms, where the older generation is getting ready to retire, and the kids are not wanting to take it over,” she says. “We’re going to really encourage people to look at that as a career.”
Global Farms operates two training farms in the city. The first farmlet, once a patchwork of 14 empty lots in Botanical Heights, now even has an orchard. The newer site is on Hodiamont, in north St. Louis. Every spring, 30 to 40 new trainees—so far, they’ve hailed from Burundi, Bhutan, Burma, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nepal, Somalia, and Sudan—undergo intense training, working outdoors all season with other students who may not speak their language.
They not only grow crops, but also practice marketing them: You can buy Global Farms produce at City Greens Market, as well as in the International Institute’s lobby from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Monday during the growing season. And this spring, the Hodiamont farm opened its own farmers’ market. Delpha says it both benefits Global Farms trainees and brings produce to a food desert.
“We’re going to be offering things that will appeal to American customers, too,” she says, “things like corn and tomatoes. We’ll also have international recipes and cooking demonstrations.” She hopes that Osman Sapir, another refugee, will sell his honey there.
“People are able to get back in touch with what they know how to do and know how to do well,” Delpha says. “They’re growing culturally appropriate food, they’re feeling good about accomplishing this, they’re helping to provide food security for their families—it’s just so positive on so many levels.”
For more information, call 314-773-9090 x134 or go to iistl.org/globalfarm.html.
