ASH ABEYTA
Albuquerque, NM
Ash has been farming for 9 seasons on farms not their own. They were in culinary school and wanted to have a better understanding of local food, so they began interning at a 15 acre CSA farm and worked their way up over the years to managing the farm. They have gone on to work in hydroponic greenhouse production, and now farm at a diversified vegetable farm in Albuquerque's North Valley.
Ash is one of the co-authors of Not Our Farm’s worker zine: Guide to Working on Farms
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN FARMING?
2020 will be my ninth season farming vegetables.
WHAT INITIALLY BROUGHT YOU TO THE FIELDS?
I love working outside. Ever since I can remember my dad has always been outside and he taught me to love working outside. I was in culinary school and I wanted to have a better understanding of local food, so I took an internship at Skaarsgaard Farm, which was a farm for a CSA.
WHY HAVE YOU CHOSEN TO FARM FOR SOMEONE ELSE (NOW OR IN THE PAST?)
Farming is a very high expense, high input field. I feel like it’s always been easier to work for other people who are already established, rather than apply for loans and invest myself.
Equipment, infrastructure, land - it all just costs so much.
WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES FOR FARMERS WORKING ON SOMEONE ELSE'S FARM - ISSUES THAT YOU'VE WITNESSED OR EXPERIENCED?
In the past farms I’ve run into problems with them not respecting my experience or my opinion. It’s difficult for farmers to let go of the reins. I feel like often farm owners have so much to do that they’re not always with the crew so they think they know what is best for the crew even though they don’t spend as much time managing the people that work for them or doing the work that the crew does all day. I feel like sometimes they think that they know everything that is going on in their company, but they forget the day to day things and that has been a challenge to communicate.
You could say that I’ve struggled with my gender identity through the years. I definitely present very masculine in my appearance. Androgynous and non-binary are words that people hav used to describe me. Most cis people assume I’m a guy when we first meet and most queer people assume I’m a trans man. I’ve always identified as a butch lesbian. It’s actually kind of nice in the farming world because it’s a pretty male dominated field. Most cis men tend to respect my opinion more if they assume I’m also of the male variety. Later when they figure out I’m not a dude, I generally have their respect. Fucking patriarchy, am I right?
“Most cis men tend to respect my opinion more if they assume I’m also of the male variety. Later when they figure out I’m not a dude I generally already have their respect. Fucking patriarchy, am I right?”
WHAT KEEPS YOU COMING BACK?
I’ve met my best friends farming. I love knowing that I’m giving back to my community and there are no stronger bonds made than through shoveling knee high chicken shit out of a 102 degree barn.
WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT WOULD BE HELPFUL FOR PEOPLE WORKING ON FARMS NOT THEIR OWN?
I think more farmer education locally - meeting with other farmers and seeing what they do and talking to them about what works really well for them - more communication with all farmers. Everybody has so much knowledge and so many ideas and it would be really cool if there were more ways for farmers to meet and talk shop. The Farmers’ Conference in New Mexico sucks. There’s no real education. It’s everybody fending for themselves.
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT KEEPS YOU UP AT NIGHT?
I am a fiercely proud New Mexican, but along with my New Mexican pride I also carry some shame about my Hispanic heritage. My dad's side of my family is Hispanic (of Spanish origin) and my mom's roots are Latinx and Hispanic. My family has lived in New Mexico for 300 years, and I am acutely aware that some of my ancestors were colonizers. They took land that never was theirs to take. I carry deep shame about that. In some ways I think that's why I want to take care of the land that I farm on…in some small way give back for what we have taken.
