Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helped Huerta del Valle (HdV) Co-Founder and Executive Director Maria Alonso obtain high tunnel hoop houses to extend their growing season and help nurture tropical trees such as the papaya to grow new roots into the soil wrapped around the branches; here, she checks for roots, the branch will later be cut to become independent trees at the 4-Acre organic Community Supported Garden and Farm in the middle of a low-income urban community, where USDA NRCS Redlands District Conservationist Tomas Aguilar-Campos work
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helped Huerta del Valle (HdV) Co-Founder and Executive Director Maria Alonso obtain high tunnel hoop houses to extend their growing season and help nurture tropical trees such as the papaya to grow new roots into the soil wrapped around the branches; here, she checks for roots, the branch will later be cut to become independent trees at the 4-Acre organic Community Supported Garden and Farm in the middle of a low-income urban community, where USDA NRCS Redlands District Conservationist Tomas Aguilar-Campos works closely with her as she continues to improve the farm operation in Ontario, California, on Nov. 13, 2018. USDA NRCS has helped with hoop houses to extend the growing season, low-emission tractor replacement to efficiently move bulk materials and a needed micro-irrigation system for this San Bernardino County location that is in a severe drought condition (). Huerta del Valle is also a recipient of a 4-year USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Community Food Projects (CFP) grant and a USDA funded California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP). She and her staff grow nearly 150 crops, including papayas and cactus. CSA customers pick up their produce on site, where they can see where their food grows. To pay, they can use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. The price of a produce box is based on the customer’s income. Alonso’s inspiration came from her desire to provide affordable organic food for her child. This lead to collaborators that included students and staff from Pitzer College's “Pitzer in Ontario Program” and the Claremont Colleges, who implemented a project plan and started a community garden at a public school. Shortly after that, the City of Ontario was granted $1M from the Kaiser Pe
Size: 2752px × 4128px
Location: USA
Photo credit: © American Photo Archive / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: agribusiness, agricultural, agriculture, communities, development, economic, education, empowerment, entrepreneurship, equality, family, farm, farm--table, farmer, farmers, farming, farms, female, food, gender, health, labor, land, leadership, management, organic, ownership, production, rights, roles, rural, small-scale, sustainable, woman, women, women-led, womens
