ANTONIA RUIZ
Albuquerque, NM
Antonia is in her 2nd season working on farms. This summer she works at a farm in Albuquerque, and is a student at McGill University in Montreal, where she studies Agriculture and Environmental Science, with a specialization in animal production.
Antonia grew up in both Albuquerque, New Mexico and Colombia, where her family has a farm.
WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY DOING? (WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING, ETC)
I am currently interning on a farm where I am learning and working as a part of the crew. It’s important to have an environment where everyone is respected - having that now has made me really happy.
I also get to drive a tractor, which is really exciting. I’m focusing on being a good part of the crew and getting to know my crew members. I’m also in my second season working on a farm. That’s been really interesting because they are two different experiences. You can only have that once you’ve had your first. It’s interesting realizing that maybe I do know some things about a certain thing and feeling like I can contribute more. Usually I’m comfortable just listening to people because I don’t know that much. I’m trying to contribute a bit more.
In school, I’m organizing my honors project on the effective rotational grazing for soil health. I have a lot of reading to do so I can establish my hypothesis. What animal? One rotational system or compare two?
I’m in the agricultural and environmental science major and animal production specialization. I chose animal production because of my experience in Colombia.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
This is my second season.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
Well, I got my first farm job because of my neighbor. I feel like farming is the connection between the natural world and human community in a big way. I just love the natural sciences. I also love people and communicating with people - my love for languages comes from that - communicating with all different types of people.
My grandma was born into an urban family in Colombia, but she chose to raise her kids on a farm on her own. She was the farm boss, sold eggs and milk, and sent the kids to college on that income. She had artificial insemination for the animals on her farm, which was not common during the time. I’m really inspired by her a lot. Going into my first internship at the Center of Investigation in Sustainable Agriculture in Colombia, a sustainable cattle ranching project, was a super special experience because I got to see hundreds of different farms all across different regions in the country, installing silvo-pastural systems. It was really cool seeing all these different producers, they are really tiny - higher up in the mountains, family owned, like Campensino farms. Some farms only had two cows, others had 15, others had hundreds. I was working with all different ranges of producers. In Colombia, agriculture is a culture within itself. Here in the U.S. it is as well, but in the U.S. it’s weird with stuff like that. It’s not as clear if groups have cultural identity here, and I don’t mean that as a mean thing, I just mean I’ve sort of been trying to figure out. It’s really interesting to see the difference between what a farm is here and what a farm is there. In Colombia, tiny family farms make up huge portion of national production - 40% of it still. It’s interesting how society relates to those communities and how they have survived this whole time because Colombia had civil war and rural communities were in the middle of that the entire time. During my internship there, people had very jarring stores about violence. My favorite technician told stories about driving around on motorcycle in the banana industry, being caught by guerillas and getting out by the skin of his teeth. Personally, the community of people who are producing food for Colombia have lived in these areas of not only political conflict, but environmental conflict (mining, deforestation). They are the most vulnerable members of the national community, along with the African population in Colombia. Those communities that were pushed to the fringes after slavery was abolished - abandoned by the government.
It was rewarding to witness how resilient people are. I was meeting all these amazing people. This young woman, her grandma was in her 90s, would go out and work the potatoes in her bare feet on this slope. I asked, “Aren’t your feet cold?” and she said, “No my skin is thick, I’m not cold at all.” Her granddaughter was going to university to study computer science and plans to keep data on her farm.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
Because I have no knowledge! My role right now is as a helper and learner and I’m proud and happy with that. I just want to work with people who know what they are doing and try and learn from them and only when I feel like I have the knowledge to start my own thing, will I go ahead and start seriously thinking about it. I know sort of what I want right now, but it’s a long time before I have the confidence and knowledge of what to do to start it on my own. I respect this field and I know I’m not ready to work on my own.
I enjoy working for people who are good at what they do.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
I think the most difficult issue on a farm is maybe the lack of recognition and support that is needed to keep a crew together, content and feeling connected to the place that they are working. You are who you work with - in the boss’ sense. You can’t do anything without your crew. I feel that the most important thing is to have a safe environment where everyone feels respected and see and heard so that they can focus on what they are there to do and not worry about other things.
When you find people who are dedicated, it’s really important to respect them as people so they can focus on their job and feel like they are doing something that is healthy for themselves, especially in the US, people of certain commnities, certain ethnic backgrounds, women, different belief systems, ways of life, you can be quite singled out. In such a hard job, solidarity is important, that can be hard to find.
Farmers can be technically perfect in terms of their strategy, but if they don’t have good worker relations, it makes their organization worthless in a way. If the organization or farm can’t protect the people who make it work, then it’s worthless and poisonous to the community. I have seen a lot of social weirdness around women doing certain things. In my university experience, there is a friend of mine doing this project where she is bringing together some of the women she has met, having us all write for this magazine to help incoming students feel more represented and accompanied. When I came in, there was this strangeness about - I didn’t feel it in my classes, but when we were out talking with farmers, it was rare to find a female head of farm, and when we did, there was always this conversation about family, gender roles, and how hard it is - it doesn’t make sense that that is something is associated with women in the field. Why does being a women mean you have to talk about all these other complications with your work. Female agrinomes talking about what they had to do to gain people’s respect, something more than what their male colleagues had to do - that is confusing to me. I sort of focus on how awesome these ladies are because they are better than their workmates so they do just fine. If I think about it too much, it’s frustrating.
CAN YOU TELL ME THE QUALITIES OF A DREAM FARM NOT LEADING TO OWNERSHIP - THAT YOU WOULD WANT TO WORK ON?
I’ve met a lot of people who I love working with - people who are passionate about the projects that they are doing and passionate about the community they are serving, not only as a community member, family member, friend, but as leaders in the community. People who want to share their knowledge and want to help people understand the reality of growing food and making decisions based on changes in things that originally people thought wouldn’t change. People who hold that resilience and dedication to figuring stuff out , and know that they are always learning. My favorite technician, he would get to a farm and always listen to the producer the entire time. He learned so much and was then able to share a lot of knowledge with other people. He was one of the only technicians who did that. Listen and share. People appreciated that and appreciated him.
Working with people who are dedicated and respectful and passionate about teaching and learning because what we do, we have to learn all the time. It’s never finished and that’s not a bad thing. It’s always changing.
And people who don’t have that privileged edge, where they feel like know more than others who didn’t have a similar experience. It happens with Campesinos - people thinking you should talk because you’ve been to university, no they should speak because they’ve been working this land. It’s this engrained idea that people who live on the land and learn with the land and actively doing things, don’t know as much as people coming out of institutions, which is totally the opposite.
“Leadership exists, but the head doesn’t move without the rest of the body. Leadership on farms should come from everyone.”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
I enjoy working on farms. Even if it’s 97 degrees outside and I’m feeling nauseated because it’s hot, I get ecstatic in the middle of it because I think I’m doing something awesome and something that I enjoy. I enjoy weeding! I have found my community here. There has only been two instances in my life where I’ve found community and this is one of them. Cycling was the first instance.
WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THE DIFFERENCE (IF ANY) BETWEEN A FARMER AND A "FARM WORKER"/"FARM EMPLOYEE" BESIDES PROPRIETORSHIP?
Society has a hierarchy. There a lot of workers who don’t own their properties and can be quite vulnerable in the face of people that don’t respect their work. The reason I insist on talking about this is because there are so many people in the U.S. who are already marginalized that are a part of the farm worker community. They are naturally moving around a lot, that reality of moving from place to place is amazing and really cool, meeting different people, different farms, systems, as long as you feel safe, you can do that. It’s important to think about movement, hierarchical structure and how farms interact with their workers.
Are they glad you’re here? Are they working with you towards the goal of the establishment? Are they acknowledging the knowledge and hard work of everyone? It shouldn’t matter if you speak with an accent, or are learning, or of a different identity, because we enjoy what we do and enjoy doing it together.In my ideal farm, the farmer and the farmworker would be the same thing.
Everyone’s contribution would be part of the leadership. Leadership exists, but the head doesn’t move without the rest of the body. Leadership on farms should come from everyone.
DO YOU CALL YOURSELF A FARMER? WHY OR WHY NOT.
I call myself a farmer’s apprentice - with all the pride in the world. I feel like my work is a contribution. I can be considered a farmer and a farmer’s apprentice at the same time.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
Contracts are a big deal - clear, fair contracts with fair pay for everyone.
Transparency is a support. It’s thing. If you were going to set up a payroll on your farm, you can also set up transparency on your farm. Being upfront with people, that is a support.
Transparency about what people’s roles are, about how they work in a system, about how they are appreciated or seen in a system, about why they are paid what they are paid, or why they have to do certain things. That is transparency because a lot of people have trouble sharing information, “business secrets” are not helpful for a crew. You can’t be satisfied with what you’re doing because people what to know what and why they are doing it.
Instilling a sense of security and sense of trust is essential.
Pay is a big deal. Everyone argues about the price of food and how the price of food can’t go up because it’s an essential thing, but I disagree with that. There should be supports for people who can’t afford the food and the price should increase. Workers who produce the food should not live on so little. There has to be a way to create financial stability for people. Giving people financial security so that they can live their lives without that weight on their back.
Mental health support - community support, community awareness and recognition which will lead to community support. You can’t help someone if you don’t know what their situation is. There should be effort by community to understand what the farm situation is, challenges, what people are going through, and show appreciation through acting on it - even just talking to your students in your elementary , high school or college about where their food comes from. People need to learn about that. This country is so flawed in the most basic things, including the national history, that doesn’t mean that this isn’t necessary. We need to be educating people where their sustenance comes from so they can produce supports that people need.
Supports for facing climate change because this is the working community that faces it head on. That is not controllable. No one is giving them support. People need to support the volatility of the whole thing so people can keep eating and living.
Educating people about the challenges of farming - it’s huge. That will lead to understanding with the issues that we brought up before - what we struggle with, including injustices caused by humans, not even the climate.
Land - you can’t get it. It’s too expensive...it’s pretty much just too expensive.
ANYTHING ELSE YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE ABOUT YOURSELF & YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FARMING? WHAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
How can I support my mom off of this field? My goal since I was a kid was to give my mom a good life when she retires. Sometimes I freak out about it and I’m just a little afraid that I might not have the talent or grit – well the grit I have because I never give up on things… it’s just scary to think I might struggle supporting my mom in her old age. I feel that responsibility personally.
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION/TAKE ON THE FARMER LUNCH? (DO YOU TAKE LUNCH, DO YOU SKIP LUNCH, DO YOU ENJOY TAKING LUNCH WITH YOUR CREW - FOR COMMUNITY BUILDING, IS THERE PRESSURE TO BE SOCIAL....)
I really like the system that we have at the farm now where we get off earlier than lunchtime. What I think is necessary is organized snacking, just to make sure no one is starving themselves. Most of us eat when we need to eat and drink when we need to, but it’s important to make sure everyone is fine. Just having little five minute breaks.
The thing I didn’t like about lunch breaks at another farm I worked at is that it was a way to make it seem like there was a break in a ridiculously long day. I do agree that people need reasonable working hours.
This is an actual full-time job - I wake up in the middle of the night to do something related to the job. It is stressful, even if you are really passionate about your job. It is stressful, you are running all the time. It’s important to put in healthy hours for everybody -it’s totally possible and necessary, we live longer lives now.
People say food is a community thing, that it’s a community aspect, but we are always with our crew. We are talking and connecting all the time. We get that connection by weeding together and making sure everyone is healthy, it doesn’t necessarily need to be through a meal together.
I believe in reasonable hours, eating throughout the day, not killing yourself by the end of the day. People can have farm dinners and get together to have fun sometimes and be with their friends. But I don’t believe in making them mandatory.
