Gardeners from Cambodia, Somalia, Burma, Laos, Uganda, Congo, Vietnam, Mexico and Guatemala at New Roots Community Farm

Hamadi Jumale, the volunteer head of San Diego’s Somali Bantu Community Organization, dumps soil into a wheelbarrow at the New Roots Community Farm. Photo: Sam Hodgson

New Roots Community Farm Takes Root in City Heights, San Diego

The New Roots Community Farm, developed by refugee aid group the International Rescue Committee, celebrates its official opening day on Thursday, September 10, 2009

What once was a vacant lot in a barren neighborhood in the City Heights section of San Diego has been transformed into a thriving community farm that promotes sustainable agriculture.

The eighty families who till the land are from all over the world: Cambodia, Somalia, Burma, Laos, Uganda, Congo, Vietnam, Mexico and Guatemala. Here, the farmers cultivate not just corn, tomatoes and eggplant, but also a deeper understanding of their neighbors’ cultures. Down amongst the rows of vegetables, you can hear exchanges about the merits of Machicha and Kunde and how they compare with lettuce, beans and cabbage.

“Now the Somali Bantu are talking to the Mexicans and the Mexicans are talking to the Cambodians,” says Amy Lint, IRC-San Diego’s Community Development Coordinator, who spent the last two years working to get the farm project off the ground. “They are finding they have a lot in common, a lot to share on the topic of food.”

Lint says where refugees and immigrants once may have felt isolated, the farm gives them a chance to make new ties and set down new roots here in the US. One New Roots farmer is selling produce to a local restaurant and others hope to soon sell their vegetables at the local farmers market, providing a new source of income for their families.

As the trend in the US moves more towards sustainable agriculture and buying locally-produced food, the New Roots Community Farm makes available fresh, local vegetables to a community which could not otherwise have afforded such produce. In addition, many of the refugees who farm the land here were skilled farmers in their native countries. New Roots provides the opportunity to farm again.

Address: New Roots Community Farm @ 54th Street & Chollas Parkway, San Diego, CA. Contact: lucy.carrigan@theIRC.org

More stories about New Roots Community Farm

Building a Farm and Saving a Culture

The New Roots Community Farm

San Diego is taking an important step to increase community access to urban farms and gardens. Driven by the leadership of Councilpersons Donna Frye and Jim Madaffer, the City is passing a resolution on Tuesday, June 26th that recognizes the importance of community farms and gardens and further expresses its commitment to building more of them.

San Diego Community Farms and Gardens Resolution