Land and Opportunity – A Life in Agriculture

Fabiola Nizigiyimana is being honored as a Future of American Agriculture Champion of Change.

I was born in Rwanda and raised in Burundi, where the majority of people are subsistence farmers who sell their crops for domestic consumption. Farming has always been a vital part of my life, as I was a farmer in Burundi before I came to the United States in 2007 as a refugee. I am extremely grateful to the U.S. government for providing me with the opportunity to come here, and since my arrival in the U.S. I have been given many more opportunities. In 2010, I began farming at the Flats Mentor Farm (FMF) in Lancaster, Mass., which is a program of World Farmers that gives free land the first year to immigrant and refugee farmers who want to continue farming. I started out with a single plot of land, but I now farm two acres.

Another opportunity came my way in 2012, when I applied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Environmental Quality Incentives Program as a new farmer, under the guidance of Maria Moreira from the Flats Mentor Farm, and was successful in acquiring a high tunnel. I am thankful to the Department of Agriculture for providing me with this opportunity, as the high tunnel has benefited me in countless ways. My high tunnel allows me to start growing my produce earlier in the season so I can go to the marketplace two to three weeks before everyone else, and allows me to continue growing my crops after the season ends. In 2013, I was able to sell my crops wholesale through our Immigrant Farmer Marketing Cooperative thanks to my high tunnel. Along with the additional income it provides, it also gives food security to me and my five children. Here, as in Burundi, I farm to help both my family and my community.

In addition to being the first African woman refugee farmer at FMF to own a high tunnel, I am also a founding member of the Immigrant Farmer Marketing Cooperative. This cooperative helps the farmers at FMF to sell their crops for a profit while also bringing the community closer together. I personally help the community in other ways, such as through translation. Many farmers speak little English or none at all, and because I speak five languages I am able to act as a translator if any problems arise.

I heard about the Flats Mentor Farm from members of my church in Worcester, Mass., where I have lived since arriving in the U.S. I tell my friends that through farming and its learning opportunities, they will be able to support themselves and our community in terms of food security. I currently have two other jobs to provide for my family, but farming is my favorite job.

Although it is my favorite job, farming is not easy and many hardships can and do arise. However, I love farming and the opportunities it provides are invaluable. I am very happy and honored to have been selected as a Future of American Agriculture Champion of Change, and I hope that this nomination will show farmers both at FMF and around this country that their hard work is irreplaceable, and also that it might inspire others to begin farming as well.

Fabiola Nizigiyimana is a leader in her community, a mentor farmer at Flats Mentor Farm in Lancaster, MA, the owner of a high tunnel from NRCS-USDA program, a founding member of the Immigrant Farmer Marketing Cooperative, and a single mother of five who speaks five languages.