Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: herbs

• Agronomic: peanuts, potatoes, radish (oilseed, daikon, forage)

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Fruits: melons

• Pollinators: habitat, honey bees

• Vegetables: beans, beans (dry), beans (lima), beans (snap), beets, brassicas, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celery, cucurbits, eggplant, garlic, greens (leafy), greens (lettuces), leeks, okra, onions, other, parsnips, peas (culinary), peppers, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, taro, tomatoes, turnips

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: biological control, biorational pesticides, botanical pesticides, chemical control, cultural control, decision support system, disease vectors, economic threshold, eradication, exclusion, habitat modification, monitoring/scouting, pesticide application timing, pesticide resistance management, pesticides, prevention, row covers (for pests), sanitation, trap crops, traps

• Crop Production: application rate management, fertilizers, foliar feeding

• Production Systems: organic agriculture

Immigrant and refugee farmers are a crucial part of American agriculture, especially in the production of vegetables. They are also an underserved farming community, and often unappreciated. American agricultural systems, equipment, and products can be very different from those in other countries, while language, cultural, and educational differences can also be barriers. For these reasons resources for agricultural education and training are less accessible in these communities and it can also be difficult for refugee and immigrant farmers to build trusting and productive relationships with technical service providers (agronomists, ag consultants, Extension, non-profit, NRCS, etc.).    

The project’s directors and project partners  will develop an illustrated spray handbook for immigrant and refugee vegetable farmers. Such a resource would:

• increase access to spray/IPM knowledge for immigrant and refugee farmers 
• cultivate productive and trusting relationships between technical service providers (TSP’s) and farmers in the North Central Region
• improve IPM practices, environmental quality, profitability, and safety on immigrant and refugee farms

The goal of this project is to produce a series of 10 related fact sheets to explain the basics of spraying pesticides to mixed vegetable farmers (which immigrant and refugee farmers predominantly are). Groups of immigrant and refugee farmers from diverse backgrounds in Wisconsin and Minnesota will meet with the PD and Co-PD at the outside of the project to guide the topics in the handbook, in order to create fact sheets that show the basic concepts of spraying mixed vegetables and IPM in clear and culturally appropriate ways. In order to communicate the material effectively to diverse audiences, the factsheets will primarily rely on graphics and illustrations to communicate concepts. The PD and Co-PD will write the handbook, with the help of a graphic designer, and have it reviewed by regional IPM experts. Once the draft is completed, the advising farmers will review it and give feedback for the final version. The handbook will be shared with immigrant and refugee farmers and those serving them around the country in print and digital form.  

Although the primary output is the illustrated spray handbook, the handbook will be a seed for greater impacts. Initially the illustrated handbook can be used by the TSP’s and immigrant and refugee farmers involved in the project, but many underserved communities will benefit from it as the handbook is shared . The illustrated spray guide will help communities share agricultural knowledge among themselves, and farmers and TSP’s around the country can use it to train their farming communities. 

Along with education, the relationships strengthened between farmers and TSP’s in this project will build bridges more widely between both communities. In addition, TSP’s can use the spray handbook to train other TSP’s to deliver culturally appropriate IPM training to underserved farmers. Pictorial guides educate beyond language, therefore all mixed vegetable farmers will ultimately be served by this project, regardless of their primary language or background.

Problem and Justification - Immigrant and refugee farmers (I&R farmers) are a crucial part of American agriculture. As a group, they tend to farm and garden at a higher rate than the general population. In particular this community tends to grow vegetables, for which IPM is more complicated than field crops. And the agricultural knowledge  of immigrant and refugee farmers often does not include spraying experience. Traditional IPM resources, whether translated or not, often take for granted that the learner is familiar with many western/scientific agricultural systems.  

Problem 1. There are many fantastic resources for farmers to learn about safe and effective spraying of vegetables, but they are less accessible to immigrant and refugee farmers and gardeners, since most of them are Western-centric in their educational approach, use lots of English text, and employ technical terms. Because of this, I&R farmers who are English language learners, come from a different cultural context, or have different educational norms, may face barriers to accessing this information. 

For example, one of the immigrant and refugee farmers with this project stated that, “for spraying, I would like to learn more about measuring. Where I come from we use the British system, and it can take too long for me to do the conversions from the label, so I just don’t spray. I would like a handbook to clearly show how to do conversions between the British system and American volumes, so that it is easier for me to spray.” Traditional TSP’s can fail to address these crucial perspectives when resources are prepared without including input and feedback from the communities they are meant for.  

The many immigrant and refugee farmers that the Co-PD’s and collaborators have worked with over the years have not yet seen quality IPM training materials that are effective for immigrant and refugee farmer communities. 

Several IPM resources have been translated into other languages, but these have limitations because they are either: text-based; written for English speakers then translated to other languages; written for farm-workers and not farmers making management decisions; and/or very focused on a single topic and not giving an overview of safe and effective spraying. 

For example, Northeastern IPM translated fact sheets into Spanish. These are written for homeowners, not for agricultural pests and practices; and they are translated from English - not written for non-native English speakers. University of California IPM has several great resources in Spanish for farm workers, but these are written for workers on large mono-crop farms and use lots of text. UC-IPM also has a few helpful factsheets in Hmong for Hmong farmers, but they are mostly text, and do not include general information on safe and effective spraying.  

• https://www.northeastipm.org/ipm-in-action/publications/ipm-fact-sheets-translated-into-spanish/ 
• https://ipm.ucanr.edu/IPMPROJECT/recursos-espanol.html
• https://smallfarmsfresno.ucanr.edu/Lus_Hmoob/Pest_Management/

Problem 2. Lack of access to resources is just one issue facing immigrant and refugee farmers. In the bigger picture, the same barriers that make resource accessibility difficult also hinder building trusting and productive relationships between I&R farmers and the TSP’s meant to serve them. This gap in human relationships often prevents these communities from accessing training, knowledge, and resources (grants, subsidies, loans, etc.). This knowledge gap can result in farmers using more pesticides or not using them at all, using ineffective pesticides, allowing pesticides to get into surface waters, and poor farmer and food safety. 

Problem 3. It can be difficult for any person to move to a new country, culture, and language, and feel a part of the society and the many smaller communities in a society. Because of the barriers identified above, immigrant and refugee farmers may not feel welcome in the American farming community. This is reflected in the conferences specifically for immigrant and refugee farmers that have started in the North Central region. When farmers do not feel welcome, they are less likely to access resources. More importantly, every human wants to be accepted and welcome in the communities they are a part of. This project will produce an effective resource made specifically for immigrant and refugee farmers with their input, that can grow in the future (with translations, instructional plans, topics, etc.) and empower them to use the same products and techniques as the wider farming community.    

Goals - 

1. Produce illustrated resources to communicate the foundations of safe and effective pesticide spraying to immigrant and refugee vegetable farmers - with the information they want and the educational methods that speak to them. The result will be approximately 10 pages, double-sided, featuring illustrations, minimal text written in  plain English and will include definitions of all technical terms.
2. The production of these resources will be guided by the communities they are meant to serve through two advisory committees of diverse farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin, who will work with TSP’s to produce the handbook.  I&R farming communities will learn from the spray handbook and use pesticides more safely and effectively to increase farm profitability as well as farmer and consumer safety. 
3. Support productive and trusting relationships between TSP’s and I&R farmers in the North Central Region. By collaborating closely and respectfully, the TSP’s and the two groups of I&R farmers in this project will strengthen existing relationships and promote continued collaboration and understanding. The relationships grown through this project will serve as a wider bridge between I&R farming communities and TSP’s in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. TSP’s can then learn from I&R farmers about their own IPM practices, to benefit the wider farming community. Such productive relationships can result in better IPM practices, resulting in improved farm profitability, improved environmental quality, and improved farmer and food safety. 
4. Help immigrant and refugee farmers feel more welcome in the wider American farming community.

Process - 

1. The farmer advisory groups will meet  at the outset of the project to identify the topics to be covered in the handbook, the important cultural and educational contexts, and the preferred modes of learning in their communities. 
2. Oschwald Tilton and Fillius will write the guide, consulting with IPM and ELL education experts as necessary, and collaborate with a graphic designer to make the draft. 
3. The farmer advisory committees will meet again to review the draft and make suggestions for improvement. 
4. The writers and designer will make the farmer-directed improvements and arrive at the final version. 
5. 500 color copies will be printed and distributed by the project’s farmers, and to immigrant and refugee farming communities and TSP’s in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa. The guide will also be shared around the country as an electronic copy to TSP’s working with underserved farmers, and immigrant and refugee farming communities. 
6. The farmers and TSP’s involved in the project will seek to present the spray handbook at several regional conferences (to immigrant and refugee farmer audiences as well as TSP audiences). 
   1. The spray handbook can be used by immigrant and refugee farmers to train farmers in their communities, and by TSP’s who work with these communities. 

The financial constraints of the grant allow for the development of the spray handbook only in this project. But other funding will be sought to build on this project, for work such as: translating the handbook into other languages (Spanish, Hmong, French, Swahili); using the handbook to train I&R farmers; using the lessons learned in the writing to train TSP’s in working with immigrant and refugee farmers; and expanding the handbook based on continued community feedback.

Timeline - January-March 2025 - farmer advisory committees meet; March-July 2025 - draft of handbook is written; August 2025 - farmer advisory committees review draft and give feedback; September 2025 - final edits made and handbook is finalized, printed, and distributed.

Personnel - Every farmer in this project has been living in the US and farming vegetables for several years and are established members of wider I&R farming communities. Co-PD’s Tilton and Fillius have long experience as vegetable production experts and ag-educators, and have worked with underserved farmers. Collaborator Stephen Petro has served underserved farmers for 15 years, and graphic designer Steve Riggins is an experienced designer of ag-education materials.