((PKG)) HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS
((Banner: Traditions))
((Reporter/Camera: June Soh))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Dakota County, Minnesota))
((Banners:
About 60,000 ethnic Hmong people, their origins in Southeast Asia, live in the US state of Minnesota.
In 2011, Hmong farmers formed HAFA, the Hmong American Farmers Association, to sell their produce in the Minneapolis, St. Paul area))
((NATS))
((PAKOU HANG, CO-FOUNDER, HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION))
So, what is HAFA? First and foremost, we are a nonprofit organization, and our mission is to lift up Hmong farmers and Hmong farming families. How do we do this? Well, we have a farm, and on that farm, we rent parcels to Hmong families, and on those parcels they grow over 160 different varieties of produce and flowers.
((NATS))
((PAKOU HANG, CO-FOUNDER, HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION))
When Hmong farmers started farming, they were making only about 5-thousand dollars in sales per acre. But since working with HAFA, this year, they’re projecting at least 11-thousand dollars in sales per acre. So, you can really see that affiliating with the group, working with the cooperative of farmers to grow their sales, increasing their capacity so they know more about crop rotation or cover crops, that it really does help Hmong farmers’ bottom line.
((NATS))
((PAKOU HANG, CO-FOUNDER, HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION))
So, farming is a really intricate part of Hmong history. In fact, you know, for many Hmong people, especially our elders, they didn’t keep a calendar. And so, when you would ask them, “Grandma, when were you born?” they would say things like, “Well, I was born during the time that the corn was planted.” Or, “I was born during the time that we harvested the rice.” And so, that is, you know, just one example of how agriculture is so integral to Hmong culture.
((NATS))
((KOU YANG, OPERATIONS MANAGER, HAFA FOOD HUB))
So, our Food Hub is the place where we aggregate our HAFA farmers’ produce, and then we distribute and sell it to different institutions such as schools, co-ops, or restaurants. And then, we also have a CSA program, or Community Supported Agriculture, that we have about 350 currently members that buy into the program and they get a weekly subscription of produce. This is what we’re doing behind me here, is packing for the CSA for our customers.
((NATS))
((PAKOU HANG, CO-FOUNDER, HMONG AMERICAN FARMERS ASSOCIATION))
We, as the younger generation, have to more quickly catch up to our parents and our grandparents, and capture some of that knowledge, that great knowledge that they have. At the same time, something that’s very hopeful for me is that I’m seeing so many more young people be interested in agriculture, be interested in agriculture not just for the sake of farming, but as a medium to reconnect with their elders, with their culture, with their language. And for me, that’s so exciting, because we can’t forget where we came from, and when we remember that, then that only propels us further into the future.
((NATS))
