Food Security Starts In The Soil

We talk with Eduardo Tavar Lopez from the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project in Beverly about how new farmers get trained and why sustainable farming depends on real systems like land access, education, and distribution. We also connect the dots between organic standards, food literacy, and food security through New Entry’s incubator farm and Food Hub. 

• New Entry’s origins through Tufts University and its evolution beyond refugee and immigrant farmer support 
• Scholarships and training designed for new and beginning farmers 
• How an incubator farm works and why a three-year runway matters 
• What growers raise on the incubator plots and why vegetables dominate 
• Hydroponics learning options through self-paced online courses 
• What a food chemist does and how food science connects to farming 
• Practical definitions of sustainable farming that include environmental and financial reality 
• What organic certification means and why the transition period is costly 
• How the Food Hub aggregates local produce for schools, senior centers, hospitals, and food pantries 
• Mobile markets as a tool for food access and community reach 
• Why farming is “surviving” and how land access limits the next generation 
• Food literacy as a pathway to less waste and more respect for growers 

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Transcript

Welcome To Actions To Impact

SPEAKER_02 0:01

Hi everyone, I'm Gwen Jones, and welcome to the Actions to Impact podcast. That's right, we've made it again, and it's another week where I introduce you to those amazing people from all over the world or right down the street that are turning their actions into impact. Well, this week I'm introducing you to my friends. He's working on food sustainability, he's working on conscious gardening, he's working on teaching the next generation of gardeners, and he's willing to have a conversation with me about all of those things and more. So join me, won't you? We're talking food security, we're talking gardening, and we're talking a great conversation to start the spring weather with. So join me. Here we go. The conversation starts right now. Welcome back to the show, everybody. If I'm not talking about soccer and I'm not talking about your rotary, I'm usually talking about sustainable food and sustainable food sources. As a lot of you guys know, I am a trained chef. I rarely don't get to cook as much as I like to, but this love of everybody eating well and being healthy is really important to me. So I've decided to find out a little something about the new entry sustainable farming project. Now, the cool thing about this is that I'm about to talk to Eduardo Tavar Lopez, and he's right around the corner from me. He is here in Beverly, Massachusetts. He's going to tell me about sustainable farming. He's going to tell me about this wonderful project that's, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, that works with Tuff University on food, food sustainability. And so we're talking about food and cooking and happy things. And I'm just excited about it. Eduardo, welcome to the show. It's wonderful to have you from like down the street around the corner.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much. So I went for having me here. Uh it's exciting. And I hope because we're neighbors, I hope you come to visit us in the farm one day. Yeah, it's great to be here.

What New Entry Actually Does

SPEAKER_02 2:24

It's a date. It's a date. I'm there. But let's tell everybody first. Let's let's just because we have so much we could talk about. The whole idea that you're a food chemist, I want to talk about. I want to talk about the project, and I want to talk about all the different fabulous things that you're doing with the help of Tufts University. But let's just start off right off the bat. What is New Entry Sustainable Farming Project?

SPEAKER_00 2:51

What is so New Entry is an organization. It's, I mean, we've been around for quite some years since 1998. It started as an initiative of Tufts University. So a researcher from the Friedman School of Nutrition had this idea. It was an idea to integrate especially immigrants and refugee people that had some farming backgrounds. So they could have they could be integrated into Massachusetts agricultural system to be able to like provide economic opportunities for them, but at the same time contribute to the food system of the state and the region by producing more food, local food, sustainable, fresh. And so that was the idea many years ago. Over the years, obviously things have evolved and changed. And now we don't work only with refugees and immigrants. We work with anyone who wants to start a career in farming. So that's why we focus on new and beginning farmers. And we what we want is to train and support these new and beginning farmers. We want to encourage the application of sustainable and resilient farming practices. We want to facilitate access to food and other farm products and build good support networks.

SPEAKER_02 4:05

Wow. So you have two very who-knew hot topics that you introduce us there with. Okay. So how is I gotta ask? I mean, it's the elephant in the room. How is that part of this wonderful program doing? Is it alive and well, or has it really had to change lately?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

Well, it has it has changed definitely because in the beginning, obviously, the focus was just on immigrants to refugees, and now it's really open to anyone. So now I mean it's it's hard to tell you a specific number, but the the number of immigrants or refugees that are part of a program, it's it's obviously decreased. Because you know, we we are now working with anyone who wants to do this. And yeah, it's it's maybe not easy for people that come from far or that maybe have low incomes to really come all the way here to farm with us because we have an incubator farm, and hopefully I get to talk about this a bit more. So it's not easy to come all the way here to Beverly to farm, which is a very hard thing to do, and then go back to their houses, have dinner and rest. So, yeah, we we we still try to really keep that in mind and keep supporting everyone who wants to farm.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

So you're saying that, you know, of course, I um to me, the elephant in the room was of course, while we're recording this, our current administration is not exactly the most open-minded, let's say, to immigrants and refugees, especially in our farming industries. So, what you're saying is business is pretty much as usual. However, there's been a slight decline. Is that kind of the politically correct way to say it? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:09

That that is correct. Yeah, I'm also relatively new here. I started around a year and a half ago. So I wish I knew about more like how 20 years ago versus 10 years ago was. I wish I would I was here to re understand. So in the very little time that I've been here, I don't think I I've spent enough time to see like a trend. But I do know that as of today, like refugees and immigrants who apply to our program are maybe a small percentage. Oh well, that's but but I mean, we of course want to keep encouraging that, and you're not trying to best as possible.

SPEAKER_02 6:42

Yeah, anybody who's hearing our voice right off the bat, please. But what I also please.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Sorry, and and just to compliment, we do have some methods to make that happen. Like, for example, we provide scholarships for people to who want to take our courses and don't have the the money to do it or the resources, we have we can support with scholarships. That's one way, and we have many others.

Why Gardening Feels Cool Again

SPEAKER_02 7:05

Wow. And then I also heard recently a fact that made me very excited on the other end of things. You said the last part of that description was anybody who's interested in sustainable farming, and this is where that Gen Z that is coming up that's really surprising, and that is we have a lot of young farmers that just small uh solo family farms. We're not talking big agriculture here, but the idea of becoming a small-scale farmer is becoming a very chic idea for Gen Z. Is that something you've also seen?

SPEAKER_00 7:45

I've seen that, yes. And I've seen it only also in my country. I'm from Mexico and I've seen it there as well. And I think worldwide there's a trend for people, young people and really everyone to be more interested in farming. It's it's it's very interesting because I think uh globally there's a trend of people moving more into cities. However, people are also interested in like knowing what farming is or even starting their own farm, which is more like a periurban or even rural thing. So it's it's it's a funny phenomenon. But there is definitely an interest for in young people to be engaged more with where their food comes from, with environmental sustainability and support communities.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

So it's so, in some ways, is farming becoming chic again? I mean, one of one of my one of my greatest teachers is a woman named Alice Waters who told us, you know, to be sustainable, to go in front with it to, you know, take care of your grow, rip up your lawn and have a garden in your own front yard kind of thing. And then of course, during World War II, we had victory gardens. So there was a time where having a garden was not, it was the norm. It wasn't a one-off. And I'm wondering if we're kind of starting everything old is new again. And the idea of, you know, Jennifer Aniston having chickens in her background ground in her backyard in Los Angeles, or myself, I have five or six raised beds and I grow a lot of my own food here in a townhouse in Beverly. Is it so? Are you seeing that? Are you seeing more people starting to grow more?

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, I I do I think people are getting definitely more interested in even if they don't want to become farmers because it's a very tough job, they are definitely more interested in, you know, having their chickens in the backyard, having a little plot in their community garden. I think it's a, I mean, from my personal perspective, it's like a multifactorial situation where it comes from the fact of like you know, climate change, people are more interested in the environment. How can I take care of the environment? At the same time, prices, not just in the States, but in many other places, are increasing. So it's hard to afford food.

SPEAKER_02 10:03

So that makes people wonder Is it a food trust thing as well?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

Can I grow my own food, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:08

Yeah, can I grow my own? Is it a trust like we were hearing about salmonella and different things on spinach and different things? It are people growing their own food for exactly.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

I I think that's another another another reason because of health issues. People see in the news, oh, there's an outbreak, no, or uh maybe uh kind of daily. Yeah, food additives or the food industry, maybe it's not as healthy or as good. So maybe I should produce my own or buy local produce in my farmers market. So I think it's all of the combination of these things that make people more interested.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Everybody, I was gonna say, I think farmers markets really started off as a very higher echelon socioeconomic thing. And now, especially with several states using SNAP funds, like you can, if you're on a food assistance programs, you can go to your local farmers market now, especially in Massachusetts and especially in other countries. A market is a market where you want to buy your goods. And I think I think everybody is kind of getting into that part of it. It used to be a very high-end thing, and now I think it's an everybody thing. Do you agree?

SPEAKER_00 11:18

I I think there's still a little gap. I think still still not super super easy to access. I I don't really know. I'm not aware of how many farmers markets are around, but I I've seen I've been to a couple, and it's definitely not the cheapest place to buy produce. But I I mean it's it's not easy to get it. If you can get it, get it because you're supporting local farms that in the future is a great investment, you know, because those local farms will probably feed your kids and will be, you know, will you help the environment, the community, the economy, uh many things. So it's it's hard to see that. But I think there's still a little gap, but I hope farmers market gets more popular, hopefully cheaper, and more diverse too.

SPEAKER_02 12:03

Say maybe more like maybe perhaps the farmers markets and other countries that are listening to my voice, where it there they aren't a one-off because they have supermarkets. The the market is the market. And that's where you know, you go to a butcher to get your meat, or you go to the fishmonger to get your fish, or you go to the market to get your radishes and tomatoes, etc.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

You exactly. And and and sorry, and to complement there, I uh yeah, in Mexico we have so many markets, and that's something that I missed. You know, you just go to the market and that it's just there. Um, it doesn't necessarily mean that all the produce in our markets are local. Many of them are local products. Maybe some other produce comes from the north of the country, if you're in the south or the other way around. But it's it's it's just a great, you know, place to to be. It's also like a community. A market in Mexico is a great place to be. If you ever go, I recommend, highly recommend going to a market. And yeah, yeah, it's it's a great thing to have there.

Inside The Incubator Farm Model

SPEAKER_02 13:00

Yeah, I would, I would actually, for everybody who's listening to our voice, if you're traveling to another country or even to your own state, I think one of the best ways to get immersed in any culture is go to the farmer's market. One of my personal favorite farmers market, I'm very blessed to have uh a property in Puerto Vallarta. And every Saturday there is a farmer's market and I miss it, I tell you. Not only because there's three feet of snow outside, but just the idea of just the chilies and the whole idea of the culture. But you did mention when you were talking about new entry this you mentioned an incubator for farmers. So we've talked about that farming is becoming cool again. Thank you, Gen Zers. We've talked about that you're working with our immigrant and refugees as well to get them into farming. But what is this incubator for farming?

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, so the way I see it is you know how there are incubators for startups for any companies out there. So it's the same, but for farming. So an incubator farm or an incubator model, it's I want to be clear, we we didn't create this idea or model. It was it was here already. But maybe I think we're one of the first programs to you know to do it and try to implement it. And so an incubator farm, it's a place where people can basically learn how to farm and be like an experiment to try out if they want to have a farm business as the as a career or they want to pursue a career in farming. So this incubator farm gives them the opportunity to really get from I mean from their experience to see what being a farmer means and to see if it's something they want to keep doing, or they say, you know what, I tried it, thank you very much. It's not for me. That's also totally acceptable.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

Right. Um that's what incubators are for if you think about it. Let's let's let's throw everything against the wall, see what sticks. But you know, I mean, I I know I know once you pull weeds or you're digging up that ground, some people adore it, and some people are like, I'm good for one season.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

No, it's exactly, exactly. Yeah, yeah, that that's what it is. And so for us, our incubator is we we have this beautiful property in Beverly, it's 20 acres, and we divide that in small plots from one quarter to one acre. And people, after they take our series of courses and they, you know, we set them up for success. After that, they can apply for the incubator and get a piece of land for up to three years. And during those three years, we help them providing you know uh assistance, technical assistance in like cropping, uh crop management practices, machinery, marketing, and business support, etc. And yeah, they they get to be farmers for up to three years, and people, after those three years, they hopefully find a land and they continue to run farm. Or as you say, after one year, they're like, it is just not for me. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 16:08

Well, and isn't that great? So instead of buying the land or then pass down the land, and you think you want to be a farmer, and then you just find out this is just not me, you're not now trying to figure out what to do with the land. Well, what kind of farmers are in this incubator? I mean, are is it all kinds of things from orchards to bees to root vegetables, or is it what kind of things are in this incubator?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

It's it's mostly vegetables, okay? Diverse vegetable farms. There are a couple of honey like hives, beehives here, but I it's it's mostly vegetables. There are a couple of flower farmers as well, because you know, even though you know flowers don't really feed people, it might be. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

We could have a whole show and another debate about how flowers are.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Right, right. I mean, I mean, you're right. Some flowers are edible. That's true, that's true. And then some people might say flowers feed the soul, which is great. Absolutely. But I mean, flowers are still plants, they attract pollinators, they still you know help the soil. So that's that's good. And I believe, yeah, uh, maybe a couple of other experiments. I I think I believe in the past, before I joined, there was also uh a place to support like animals. I'm gonna say maybe birds, maybe chickens. We don't have that anymore. But so yeah, now currently is mostly uh vegetables. We also don't really have like perennials, such as uh fruit trees.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Oh, okay, okay. So any mushrooms? I know those are becoming or is anybody growing any mushrooms?

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Currently in the incubator, no. I mean, this year there are some new incubators here in the farm, which I don't know if any of them have the idea to do it, but I just don't think we have the facilities to do it. But never say no, no.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

I know I'm I'm looking for I I am I was very blessed to have a mushroom farmer where I used to live that did about seven different varieties of mushrooms, and he he he was given an old kind of cave. It was actually it was an old World War II bunker area, and he turned it into a place for mushrooms. It was brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

I mean, that's what farming is, is really innovating, finding solutions for how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

So what about things like hydroponics? I know that I I know myself I have a small hydroponic herb garden in my kitchen, but hydroponics, even on a huge scale, have gotten very interesting, a lot of a lot of science around them because of their less use of water or the use of actually fish like tilapia farms being down below and actually growing stuff on top of the fish farm, the fishing farm. Are you going to be expanding into anything like that?

SPEAKER_00 18:52

That's a great question. I don't think we we will we have the plan to do it ourselves. However, we do have a course, one of our so we have many courses that are like in person and many others that are online. Some are synchronous and asynchronous, so that means like live in in you know, one live in person or recorded, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 19:13

And the self-paced ones, and we have a hydroponics course which is self-paced, so people can just go to the website and and take it on their own time. So we have a course on hydroponics that was from a project that we had a couple of years ago. So we we teach people how to how to do it, but we don't have the facilities to do it. It's it's a it's a lot of work, so I don't think we uh we want to get that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Well, and and you you said that you can go online. So does that mean anybody anywhere can go online to your if you don't have to be here in Massachusetts, you can be in North America, you can be anywhere and take these classes?

SPEAKER_00 19:52

I believe anywhere. I want to say, and I'm 99% uh sure that it can be anywhere. Yeah, they can just go to our our website, which I'll share with you, and yeah, go to our course page and click on all the courses we have, including this hydroponics one.

SPEAKER_02 20:06

So Tufts University, are they are they officially a part of this? Are they a partnership of it? How how how is Tufts University a part of this?

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Right. So when the whole new entry idea, when it started in 1998, was an idea of one of the researchers. So since our creation, you know, we've been linked to to Tufts. And in 2019, we also moved locations because we were based in Lowell, Massachusetts, and now we're in Beverly. And when we moved to Beverly, we also transitioned, Tufts University became our official fiscal sponsor. So currently we are fiscally sponsored by Tufts. I mean, we we are part of Tufts, especially the Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy. And so basically, our administration, our background, our processes are completely aligned with Tufts University. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah, there's also many other ways how we're we're linked, no, like we every year we we get we work with many interns and volunteers. So many of these interns come from Tufts University. We try to interact and maybe expand a little bit of research with some Tufts faculty and researchers. And we continuously we look for new opportunities to collaborate even more.

What A Food Chemist Studies

SPEAKER_02 21:21

So and and the reason why I bring up the the academic side of things is that when you introduced yourself to me, you said you were a food chemist. What the heck is a food chemist? Now we know, I mean, everybody who took science in school, you know, even if it was grade school, knew what H2O was, that it was water, and we all had to grow the sunflower seed in the in the egg carton or the milk carton, and you had the sunflowers. So I mean, we know it has to do with science, but what actually is a food? Scientist. Chemist, I should say, because it's different. A chemist is different than a scientist, but so right.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I mean, I would say as a food chemist, I do food science.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:09

But it's funny you mentioned the sunflower thing because I think for us in Mexico in elementary school, we were doing the same with the with the bean. So it's very it's very cultural, culturally appropriated.

unknown 22:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

Yeah, so food chemistry, I mean, it's obviously a science. I got into it because I was very curious. I since I grew up in Mexico City, you know, Mexico is very, very Mexico is food, right? And food is not just nourishing, but like it's culture. So I was always very interested in what is food, where it comes from, who has access to it. And so that led me to be interested just in food in general. And when I saw this degree in food chemistry, I was like, ooh, this is this sounds nice, sounds interesting. And I'm I'm somebody who has a very analytical brain, very you know, structural analytical research brain. So I was like, I think this sounds like me. So yeah, food chemistry is you know, it's like an engineering where you learn things such as a laboratory, like how to make some ingredients in the laboratory. Really sounds like like a movie. But it's also a lot about microbiology, like all the microbes that ferment our bread. It's about the industry, like processes, how you know the physics of in the in in these huge industries, how to move from A B to from point A to point B, quality, food safety. Yeah, it's a very, very nice thing to do, actually. And many, I I would say most of the food chemists that I know, or my colleagues, would work in the food industry. So all these people making innovations, new products, the classic, you know, I don't know, a bag of Doritos with a new flavor, that's probably comes from a food chemist.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

It probably comes from a food chemist. Oh my.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

Well, it also and it also sounds like in a way you're almost food historians because you do have to find out where food comes from. And it's interesting that you said Mexico City, because you know, Mexico City has everything from deserts around it to an entire canal system and river right through the center of it. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, you guys go look it up. But Mexico City literally has canals that the Aztecs used to get literally stuff from the desert or the jungles to the desert. So I I am a huge passionate person about the history of food. So is that something that a chemist gets to learn as well? To be like food anthropology?

SPEAKER_00 24:45

I would say yes, it's it's a little part of it. I think I remember in some classes we would learn, for example, the history of when food started to be canned, like what was the point of canning food? Right. Um, you know, why food did it and why is it still relevant, things like that. So we definitely learned some history. However, something we did not learn too much was the farming part of food.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

I remember when I finished my degree, I was like, I wish I would have had some classes on farming or or the technical, you took you learned the technology of what people did to manipulate food, but where actually the food grew from, you didn't get to learn as much.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Exactly. No, no, not too much, not too. And that's part of why I became then more interested in farming. It's not the only reason, but it's one of the reasons why I was like still curious. And then I did a master's in organic agriculture, which is when I started to specialize more on farming.

SPEAKER_02 25:40

So sustainable farming. When somebody says sustainable farming, what are they talking about? We've talked about having a garden bed in your backyard, we've talked about neighborhood gardens, we've talked about getting somebody started at a gardening career. But what is actually sustainable gardening? Is that like two? I I see this is this is this is audio, but I'm seeing you like, ooh, this is a big answer. This is a big answer. You know, we need to do two shows. You let me know. But what what in the Cliff Note edition? What is sustainable gardening? And is it even possible? I guess.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah, I I think I mean it's a complex answer. It's it's not a hard one, but it's just a complex because it's not really defined anywhere, I don't think. I feel like it's one of those terms that is defined in in a different place, differently. For us, at least in in new entry, sustainable farming is well, we we're very linked to organic farming, because organic is you know a certification that can maybe help some farmers to uh have more income and uh for for the produce and at the same time take care of their farm, their environment, their soil, their water, etc. But it's not the only, right? Organic is maybe one way, but there are many other sustainable ways of doing things. So for me, sustainable farming is it's just doing a bit better than we're currently doing. I don't think sustainability can be defined or can be enclosed like in a box. Okay, it's just uh like it's like innovation. We will always improve and do something better, but then that will become the norm, and then something better will need to be done again. And we will always keep in this cycle. So sustainability can be like regarding the environment, can be like using less chemicals, taking better care of our plants, our soil, our water, but it can also be financial sustainability, social sustainability. So, really, sustainability is a huge word. And yeah, in a nutshell, I guess to me, again, it just means doing farming a bit better than we are currently doing today. And this could be crop rotations or or even you investing in a local farm by buying some produce from them, that's sustainability too.

Organic Certification And The Cost

SPEAKER_02 27:57

So, another besides sustainability, I would argue that the other rather cliche word that's been co-opted, not even in our business world, but in our farming world, is this world, is this word organic? The the truth of the matter is if we get back to the Oxford dictionary, every single vegetable out there is an organic thing. I'm organic, you're organic. We're eventually gonna go, you know, turn into ashes to ashes and dust to dust and all that kind of stuff. We are organic in the business world. They say, ooh, this idea has come to me organically. So it's a very it's a bingo card full of what is organic. What is organic as far as a farmer goes? What is organic to a farmer?

SPEAKER_00 28:46

So in each country has its own organic certification. And so for farmers, organic mainly means certification, which is not more than having doing farming and doing your business within certain rules and certain ways, protocols in order to comply with this, you know, this standard. It's it's like a standard, let's say. And so by standardizing different practices, protocols, and ways of doing things, you can offer your product to customers by ensuring them this product fulfills these standards and practices, and you can be sure that it's exactly what I'm telling you it is, no? That that's in a very conceptual uh general way, and yeah, I guess more applied for farmers. Organic can mean that again, that they are maybe taking better care of their environments, their surroundings, their land, their animals, their plants, themselves, even by you know using less chemicals. It organic can also mean expensive for farmers, can mean something not very attainable or achievable because transitioning from conventional to organic can be very expensive. And so I think I mean I think it's similar. I'm I'm more aware of the rules in Mexico, but I think it's similar here as when so if you if I have a conventional farm today where I'm doing farming in a normal way with pesticides and whatever, and I want to transition to organic, it probably takes like at least three to five years. And during those years that I'm transitioning, I have to use organic like inputs like fertilizers or herbicides if there are any. But at the same time, I cannot in that transition period, I cannot sell my products as organic. So it's uh transition period.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

So, if you follow those rules because it takes time for those things to kind of all germinate, for no better word. Yep, you can't officially be organic like exactly.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

So that transition period is very hard because it's expensive. You're spending more time and more uh money, and you don't get as you know as much revenue as you want because you're not selling organic. So that's that's uh that's a very tricky part for farmers. And what we do here, so we're an organic farm, we've been certified for some years now, and we don't force our incubators to be organic, like they don't have to be certified because we know that they're starting and it's expensive. We do ask them to obviously respect the practices we we have, because if they don't, then we lose our certification. Uh so we just ask them to respect the the those practices, but we don't force them to be organic certified because that's really everyone's choice.

SPEAKER_02 31:28

So that's that is, however, an interesting question. That could I go and have my incubator farm there and use Roundup?

SPEAKER_03 31:42

No.

SPEAKER_02 31:43

Okay, so because I know everybody, because I'm sure that some people were listening going, well, if they don't have to be organic yet, does that mean they can just go and go free? Because things do spray. I mean, let's face it, we can't control the wind. And so what you're saying is if I if I wanted to be a part of this incubator program, just letting you know this incubator program is part of an overreaching certified program that's certified and you're not allowed to mess up our certification.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

Is that yeah, yeah, that's that's exactly where it is. Yeah, we when we when they come in, uh we have you know certain protocols and rules and we tell them you don't have to pay for your your own certification, but please respect our organic certification and use use only these approved you know materials or or or inputs, do this only these practices, because in the end we do want to promote more sustainability, as we were saying before. But again, sustainability can take different shapes. So if somebody wants to be organic, great. If they don't, that's fine. And there's many other certifications around the world, like uh the the I forgot the term re regenerative, which is a very trendy concept as well, biodynamic and many others.

The Bigger Goal For Food Systems

SPEAKER_02 32:57

So what's your really what's your goal? What's what's new entry's goal? I mean, you you're doing you've got this incubator going, you yourself are a food chemist and are discovering new and amazing ways of sustainability through your background. Like you're helping immigrants, you're helping young people who want to get into gardening. It sounds like you got a lot of pokers going in a lot of places all over the place. But if you had to like do a simple, you know, what is it you'd like to be and do? What does New Entries farming project really want to become?

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Right. That's a great question. I think overall we just want to be a catalyzer or a facilitator for to improve food systems locally, regionally, nation nationally. But that's very ambiguous and very broad. So to be more specific, we want to train the next generation of farmers and make sure they are set up for success. And we also want to improve food security in our area and even share our lessons and expertise because you know we're we're quite an old organization, almost 28 years, I believe. So we also want to share our expertise with other organizations and incubator farms that want to do the same.

Food Hub And Mobile Markets

SPEAKER_02 34:21

So I just have a few more questions, Eduardo, and I'm so glad that you joined me today. I I can't, we've talked about sustainability of food, but I couldn't go without asking you, Elisa, a question about food deserts and food insecurity. Is that something at all that we'd also you'd also like to encourage? I mean, you can teach a person, you know, give a man a fish, it's one thing, teach him to fish it, you know, it's a lot more. Is there a way that we can, you know, is is there ideas through Tufts University and through New Entry to actually work on some of the uncertainty of food insecurity in this area?

SPEAKER_00 35:05

For sure, yes. And I I didn't get to mention, but new entry is divided in three programs. One is the farmer training team or program, which is the one I shared where we train people, where we have the incubator and provide technical assistance. But we also have a program called the Food Hub. The Food Hub is a program that connects all these new and beginning farmers and their products they are starting to produce with people that need the produce. So it's the food hub is uh an aggregator and distributor of local produce. So what these colleagues of mine do is grabbing this fresh produce and providing new income to these new farmers, which is great because we're supporting them and ensuring their sustainability.

SPEAKER_03 35:47

Right.

SPEAKER_00 35:47

And at the same time, they use that produce and distribute with, for example, many food access partners around the area, such as senior centers, schools, universities, other like hospitals or you know, uh hospitals that have senior centers and others, food pantries, etc. So all this fresh local produce is going to these people who really need it the most. And also we have a little mobile market, which is a little van that takes this produce and goes to communities where maybe people wouldn't be able to access this produce that easily. We go here in in Massachusetts in like Lean, Revere, and other regions. And so they go to the little van and sets up for a couple hours and put these little mobile markets and they sell the produce. So we we do have this piece, which is this food hub, which is contributing to food security in the area.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

Is food security and food sustainability are they a hand-in-hand kind of thing?

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Food security and food sustainability. Yes, definitely. I think it's uh I think it's a very complex and big discussion to have.

SPEAKER_02 36:52

But that I mean, I know that's show number two, or I think we're up to show number three now. Yeah, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Yeah, exactly. No, I mean, yeah, yeah, it is it is definitely something they are related for sure. We we we need both of them, no? We need to be food secure in the world, and we need sustainability as well.

Farming Today And Land Access

SPEAKER_02 37:09

So I've got one last question for you. How is farming doing? How is the world of farming? Because I I do think for a very long time I know the oakies of the depression were quote unquote dirt farmers. You know, farmers have not always had the best reputation. They're either big megatopolis, huge, you know, acreage things or a quote unquote dirt farmer. But uh how is farming doing? Is it having a resin renaissance? Is it still alive and kicking?

SPEAKER_00 37:45

It's it's alive, definitely, because we will have to eat, you know. We need to eat so yeah, it's it's not like people can just stop farming everywhere and that's it. We we need to eat. And so farming is is a necessity, and as we said in the beginning, it might be also a trendy thing with Gen Z or millennials. It's I think farming is doing, I mean it's it's it's hard, it's doing it. But I think farming is surviving. Okay. Of course, I I love what we do at New Entry, but we are just a small piece, you know. We we we cannot obviously solve the whole farming around the world or across the country. We are we're a piece, we're doing great actions to impact. But but yeah, I think farming is struggling a lot. There's there's less support, it's very challenging. It's a it's a very tough job. We we encourage and want people to get into farming, but it's also not for everyone. No, we have to accept that it's not for everyone. It's very hard physically, but also like financially. And one of the biggest issues currently is the lack of access to land in this area. Maybe there's there are not enough land or you know, places where to farm. And if there are, they are maybe super expensive. So it's the land access piece is one of the biggest issues currently, I would say, with with farming. And we, even though maybe we're not the most experts on this topic, we are trying to do as best as we can. There's this new project now with the with the with the state government of Massachusetts to encourage and find ways of promoting more land access to farmers. So that's a very big issue. And again, going back to the question, I think farming is surviving, it's doing it, and we have to eat, but it needs a lot of support.

SPEAKER_02 39:28

Needs a lot of support. So and I and I would vote that that support can be in your own backyard, helping those butterflies and bees by planting some flowers and a few things in your own backyard because a bee that's enjoying a sunflower in my yard is going over then to your yard and making food. So you know exactly.

Food Literacy And Composting Culture

SPEAKER_00 39:47

It's it's it's about that systemic thinking of thinking how everything is related, no? Everything is really yeah, and yeah, ways of supporting can also be just increasing or improving your farming or your food literacy, just knowing where food comes from, how long a tomato takes to grow, and how hard it's to grow a tomato. Because I think that consciousness will also make people to appreciate more, maybe do less food waste. So, really increasing our literacy, that's also a great one.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

Oh, food literacy. That's a good that's a good mic drop for you there, Eduardo. I I will geek out with you for just one second. I actually have a food composter in my kitchen. It takes about two days to or about a day for everything to go. It fills up. I put a little enzyme tab in it, and then I turn around and take those old coffee grounds and avocado peels and celery stalks, and I dump them outside in my garden. So it's like, and and consequently, I usually throw out about a bag of trash a month. That's how much, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

Yeah, I mean, trash and and how much trash and compost and you know, waste.

SPEAKER_02 41:02

That's show number four.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. We we actually have here in the in the after every Halloween, we do this huge event called the Pumpkins Mash here on the farm, which is about composting. Everyone around New Entry, uh around Beverly, sorry, brings their pumpkins and we play games, we destroy them in a fun way, and in the end it goes all to composting. It's a great event.

SPEAKER_02 41:25

Oh, I'm so coming to that. I'm bringing my grandson too. All right, Eduardo, thank you so much for being on the show. I I I love geeking out on farming. I am a huge farm, farmers market kind of supporter. But what I really love is that you're teaching the next generation of farmers to be a part of this world because no farmers, no food. So uh thank you. Thank you, Eduardo, for being on the show. I really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

Thank you so much. And I would just add to what you said, I would say no land, no farmers, no food, because land is a good shit now.

How To Connect And Support

SPEAKER_02 42:00

There you go. No land, no farmers, no food. I love it. Hey, quick shout out. Give us your uh email address. So if anybody, I'm gonna have it in the in the show notes, but yes, of course.

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Um my my email address is very complicated, so I'll just give the general one. The general one is N-E-S-F-P at T-U-F T S dot edu.

SPEAKER_02 42:23

Okay, and I'll put that in the footnotes for everybody who's driving their car going, are you kidding? Like I totally didn't get that, but I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 42:31

That's complicated. And and we have a website and social media, so just look for new entry, sustainable farming project, or new entry. We are in social media and everywhere. I'll link, I'll share the links, but thank you so much. And please, whoever wants to support us, please support just by spreading the word that's already enough.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_02 42:50

Eduardo, thank you, thank you, thank you. What did you think of that last little bit he said? No land, no farm, no food. We gotta get to meet our farmers, you guys. It's important for us to know what's on our plate. It's important for us to respect the people who put that stuff on our plate. It's important for us to try and grow some of the stuff that goes on our plate. Wow, Eduardo, thank you so much for sharing your amazing work with amazing people. This is I know something local. I know this is a guy who is right down the street like we all leave around the world. We all need we all be farmers, we all need to fight and we all need the stuff and joy, I'm gonna do it a great deal. Especially when it's shared with family or friends from all over the world. You know the usual stuff, but just in case you forgot it, if you have a guest that I should know about rotarian. Pod at gmail.com. Also remember we're now on YouTube and we also have a blog. So in case there's some translation issues, check out YouTube, which is in 30 different languages. The blog that can easily be translated to any language. And of course, uh, huh, subscribe and tell a friend, and what else? I think that's it for this week, that is. Until next week, take care of yourself and the world around you, and we'll hear you and see you and appreciate you next time on the Action to Impact Podcast. Have a wonderful week, everybody. We'll talk to you soon.