Island Grown Ethnic Program

In the spring of 2008, IGI connected with the Ethnic Crops program headed up by Professor Frank Mangan at University of Massachusetts Amherst. Working with his research team, Frank develops the agronomy to adapt staple crops from the home countries of immigrants living in the state. Thanks to their work, people from Southeast Asia, Africa and South America now have access to crops that are culturally significant to them here in Massachusetts, and local farmers have entirely new markets to grow for.

There are an estimated 4,000 Brazilians living on Martha’s Vineyard today. This led Frank to IGI, leaders of the Brazilian community on the island, and farmers to trial three staple Brazilian crops on farms and gardens on the Vineyard, to see how these crops would be received by the local Brazilian population and how the market would impact the local farmers. The island as an ideal place to study the benefits of the program, in part because this is a relatively isolated community which allows he and his team to be able to clearly document its impact.

This growing season, we introduced three staple Brazilian crops to three major farms and six home gardens on the island: maxixie, a small, round Brazilian cucumber; abobodo japonese, a winter squash and taioba, a large leafy green in the taro family. Each crop is delicious, and are being featured already in local restaurants, including Zephrus and the Outermost Inn. For recipes to find out how to prepare these crops in your own kitchen, please see HYPERLINK "http://www.worldcrops.org" www.worldcrops.org.

Already, the reception for these crops has been incredible. Within minutes of harvest, the farmers trialing these crops sell out and have to turn disappointed customers away until the next picking day! Brazilian customers line up at their farmstands before they open on harvest mornings in hopes of getting a share of that day’s bounty. The farmers are delighted by the discovery of this new market and the income it brings, and enjoy growing crops new to them and to most of their customers. The Brazilian community has embraced the opportunity to buy and to grow in their own backyards the foods from their home country.

This first season’s trial run of Island Grown Ethnic has proven the demand for these foods and the ability of Vineyard farmers to grow them successfully. In collaboration with Elio Silva, a local businessman, IGI is now working on the distribution and marketing of the crops to the Brazilian community and to traditional markets such as schools, restaurants and grocery stores.

In terms of the social impact on the island, new bridges are being built in the community as a result of the program. Brazilian sous chefs in restaurants are teaching their executive chefs how to incorporate these foods into their menus, Brazilian families are connecting with long-time Vineyard farm families, and we plan to introduce these crops into Island Grown Schools programming in the next school year. Island Grown Ethnic is a powerful way to bridge the gap between the Brazilian and non-Brazilian communities on the island – communities which have been largely segregated since this immigrant population began arriving nearly 20 years ago.

In the coming year, we look forward to doing outreach to the island farm community to let them know about the program and to help identify more farmers interested in growing the crops. Our primary focus will continue to be on the marketing and distribution of the crops, bringing them to new markets, advertising them to the Brazilian and non-Brazilian populations, holding cooking demonstrations for home cooks and restaurant chefs on how to prepare them, and more.

For more information on these crops and on Frank’s research, see:
www.worldcrops.org.
www.vineyardvoice.org.
For more on Island Grown Ethnic, please contact Ali Berlow at ali@islandgrown.org.