Robin Taylor of Suzie’s Farm and Ralph Achenbach of the International Rescue Committee in San Diego talk with KPBS Evening Edition host Peggy Pico about community-supported agriculture.
By Megan Burke, Maureen Cavanaugh
and Peggy Pico
Eating locally grown produce is more than a trend in San Diego. For many, it has become a way of life.
San Diego County has more small farms than any other county in the United States. A lot of the farm fresh produce is sold in the thriving farmers markets scattered around the county and in community-supported agriculture, or CSA, produce delivery programs.
Now, a group of accomplished San Diego farmers have their own CSA program. The farmers of the International Rescue Committee’s New Roots Community Farm come from countries as diverse as Somalia, Burma, Iraq and Bhutan. They grow food for themselves but also turned their skills into a business.
Listen to the full KPBS Midday Edition segment featuring Ralph Achenbach, food security and community health supervisor with the International Rescue Committee in San Diego, and Hamadi Machiwa, a Somali refugee and a member of the Bantu tribe who works with the Bahati Mama’s, a group of six Somali women refugees who farm at New Roots farms in City Heights and Escondido.
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The Bahati Mamas sell their produce at the farmers’ market, through CSA boxes and to local restaurants. | Photo Credit: Brian Belasco, Mid-City CAN