A multi-institution agricultural collaborative is researching ways to help Massachusetts farmers grow and market local immigrants’ favorite home-country vegetables. In a related effort, immigrants are learning techniques for being successful farmers themselves.Immigrants - New England ; Agriculture - New England

Frank Mangan

Maria Moreira

Raquel Uchôa de Mendonça

English

Research Papers in Economics

0   Fall 007
New England Farmers 
meet 
Immigrant Needs
by Frank Mangan, Maria Moreira, and Raquel Uchôa de Mendonça, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
recent  years,  as  Massachusetts  has  attracted 
increasing numbers of immigrants–many of 
them nostalgic for home-country cuisine–an 
opportunity  has  opened  for  New  England’s 
farmers  to  reach  new  markets.  A  multi-institution  agricultural 
collaborative headed up by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst 
is tapping into that opportunity with research on ways to grow and 
market local immigrants’ favorite vegetables.
Photograph by Maria MoreiraCommunities & Banking    
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 
2006 American Community Survey, Asians 
represent  5  percent  of  the  Massachusetts 
population.  Hispanics  are  the  largest 
ethnic  minority,  with  8.2  percent  of  the 
population.  The  number  of  Brazilians 
living  in  the  state  went  from  36,669  in 
2000 to 84,836 in 2005, but estimates of 
undocumentedBrazilians are much higher. 
The  UMass  Extension  collaborative 
has been working since 1996 on projects 
to  research  crops  favored  by  immigrants 
and  to  help  farmers  produce  and  market 
them.1 The efforts began with crops popular 
among Puerto Ricans and Dominicans and 
have since branched out to include favorites 
of  Asians,  Brazilians,  and  other  Latin 
Americans. 
Most  crops  that  recent  immigrants 
from tropical climates prefer can be grown 
in the northeastern United States. After all, 
more than 70 percent of the nearly 20,000 
acres planted in Massachusetts feature crops 
that  originated  in  warmer  regions—sweet 
corn,  pumpkins,  squash,  peppers,  and 
tomatoes,  among  others.  Now,  thanks 
to  the  new  research,  commercial  farmers 
in  Massachusetts  are  growing  additional 
vegetables for immigrant groups—calabaza 
(Cucurbita  moschata),  ají  dulce  (Capsicum 
chinense), water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), 
and  more.  (See  “Vegetables  Popular  with 
New England Immigrants.”)
In  2002,  the  collaborative  began  to 
focus on crops popular with Brazilians. And 
in  2005,  UMass  hired  Raquel  Uchôa  de 
Mendonça, a Brazilian with an agronomy 
degree, to help evaluate production practices 
and marketing strategies for Brazilian crops. 
She works closely with local Brazilian media 
to promote the crops.
Brazilian,  West  African,  and 
Latino Crops
In 2006, the collaborative conducted mar-
ket analysis on two Brazilian crops: abóbora 
híbrida and maxixe. 
Abóbora  híbrida  (Cucurbita  maxima 
x  C.  moschata)  is  the  most  popular  hard 
squash in Brazil. It is used in salads, soups, 
and  meat  dishes,  and  is  often  canned  or 
pureed for baby food. Consumers look for 
deep orange flesh, so abóbora is commonly 
sold halved and wrapped in plastic. Maxixe 
(Cucumis sativus), a cucumberlike vegetable, 
is used in salads, soups, and beef dishes. 
Test marketing of abóbora and maxixe 
took  place  in  Massachusetts  and  New 
Jersey in 2006 and confirmed that a market 
existed.  Simultaneously,  UMass  Research 
Farm  in  Deerfield  demonstrated  that  the 
vegetables  could  be  grown  successfully  in 
Massachusetts. As a result, members of the 
Pioneer Valley Growers Association, based 
in Whately, Massachusetts, decided to grow 
several acres in 2007. 
Another crop, currently being evaluated 
for Brazilian and West African markets, is 
a leafy vegetable called taioba (Xanthosoma 
sagittifolium)  in  Brazil  and  kentumere  in 
West Africa. Similar in appearance to taro 
from Southeast Asia, it has rootlike corms 
that are staples in the tropics. The greens 
are used like spinach. In 2006, agronomist 
Samanta  Del  Vecchio  Nunes  came  from 
Brazil  to  help  the  team  evaluate  growing 
and  marketing  taioba  to  New  England’s 
Brazilian and African communities. Target 
consumers indicated willingness to buy it at 
least once a week. 
Also  in  2006,  agronomist  Liliana 
Murillo  Contreras  of  El  Salvador  helped 
evaluate  marketing  strategies  for  pipián 
(Cucurbita mixta) and chipilin (Crotalaria 
longirostrata),  popular  El  Salvador 
vegetables. The fruit of the pipián is eaten 
when immature; the seeds are eaten later or 
are planted. Test marketing in Massachusetts 
demonstrated that consumers are especially 
interested in buying small (less than eight 
inches) pipiáns. 
Chipilin, a perennial leguminous plant 
used  as  an  herb  in  Central  America  and 
southern Mexico, is grown as an annual in 
temperate climes. It is used in soups and 
in the corn dough for pupusas, a tortilla. 
During testing, customers of Latino stores 
in Massachusetts showed strong interest.
Hmong Farmers
The  UMass  intiative  is  not  only  help-
ing commercial farmers meet immigrants’ 
tastes, it is assisting a local Asian commu-
nity to establish its own farms. 
Originally  from  Laos,  the  Hmong 
have  a  language  and  culture  that  differs 
from  other  Southeast  Asian  immigrants’. 
Given  refugee  status  after  the  Vietnam 
War because of their collaboration with the 
United  States,  most  settled  in  California 
and Minnesota. However, some have been 
farming in Lancaster, Massachusetts, since 
the early 1980s, where Flats Mentor Farm 
(FMF,  http://nnifp.org/projects/fmfp)  has 
been of particular assistance. 
Located  on  70  acres  of  former  river 
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Liliana Contreras shows pipián grown at UMass Research Farm.   Fall 007
Vegetables Popular with New England Immigrants
The mission of the UMass Extension Vegetable Team www.umassvegetable.org is to assist commercial farmers 
on all aspects of their operations, especially production and marketing. For a decade the team has researched ways 
that established farms might serve immigrant populations. Calabaza, aji dulce, and water spinach are three of the   
crops tested.
Calabaza (Cucurbita moschata) is a popular squash in many parts of the Americas. It is also known 
as auyama (Dominican Republic and Venezuela), ayote (parts of Central America) zapallo (parts of South 
America), and West Indian pumpkin (English-speaking Caribbean). It gets added to sauces as a thickener 
and is used in stews and soups. It can also be a pie filling or a main dish. The texture and flavor suggest 
butternut squash.
Aji dulce (Capsicum chinense) is a small, light-green pepper that turns red if left on the plant. In Puerto 
Rico, it is known as ají dulce or ajicito. In the Dominican Republic, it is ají gustoso or ají cachucha. Aji dulce 
looks like a habanero pepper but lacks the intense heat. It is used to season dishes and for sofrito, a favorite 
Latin American sauce. 
Water Spinach (Ipomoea aquatica), a herbaceous, aquatic perennial in the tropics and subtropics, is a 
member of the morning glory family and the same genus as the sweet potato. Most of the young plant 
tissue is edible, but the tender shoot tips and younger leaves are preferred. 
A challenge for New England farmers is that importation and interstate movement of water spinach 
is prohibited by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). That is because it is a 
weed in tropical fresh water. However, it is extremely sensitive to frost and can not survive New England 
winters, so the UMass Extension Vegetable Team has worked with federal and state regulators to create a 
permitting system to grow and sell it as an annual in Massachusetts. For more information on these and 
other crops, see www.worldcrops.org. 
Raquel Mendonça, Maria Moreira, and Samanta Nunes at a farmers’ market in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
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nCommunities & Banking    3
bottom in Lancaster, FMF has since 1985 
supported small farmers of diverse ethnic 
backgrounds with the land, infrastructure, 
and marketing help needed for successful 
farming.  FMF  promotes  economically 
viable  agricultural  production  that  also 
protects the environment. 
With  resources,  hands-on-training, 
and  technical  assistance  on  soil  fertility, 
irrigation,  pest  and  weed  management, 
and  marketing,  Flats  Mentor  Farm  also 
helps beginning farmers increase economic 
returns and quality of life. During the past 
six years, with assistance from the University 
of Massachusetts, Tufts University, and FMF 
project leader Maria Moreira, some farmers 
have evolved from growing just enough for 
their families to selling at farmers’ markets 
in and around Boston. 
In 2006, FMF farmers sold produce at 
16 farmers’ markets, mostly in the Boston 
area (the farthest west was Worcester). The 
number of farmers involved and the sales 
generated keep increasing.
Many Needs Met
The  UMass  initiative  benefits  immigrant 
consumers,  immigrant  farmers,  and  New 
England’s  larger  commercial  farmers.  Im-
migrants  gain  access  to  traditional  foods, 
and farmers have a more research-based ap-
proach to reaching them. Immigrants are 
eager for certain vegetables—and will pay 
for them. For example, the test marketing 
showed that those who buy spinach when 
taioba greens aren’t available will pay $6 per 
pound for taioba, twice the cost of spinach. 
The cost to produce abobora hibrida 
and  maxixe  is  about  $4,000  per  acre—a 
little  more  expensive  then  similar  crops, 
such as butternut squash and cucumbers—
and  some  farmers  are  wary  of  challenges 
such as importing seeds. But many also see 
the  opportunity,  especially  as  other  new 
crops gain adherents. The recent surge in 
organic farms in New England has led to 
the introduction of higher-priced, boutique 
crops for upscale consumers and restaurants, 
and those markets are showing interest in 
immigrant crops, too. 
Critical  for  growing  new  crops  is  a 
thorough  understanding  of  the  market 
potential,  the  production  costs,  and 
the  distribution  system.  The  UMass 
collaborative hopes to keep expanding its 
ability to provide that knowledge.
Frank  Mangan  is  an  extension  associate 
professor in the plant, soil, and insect sciences   
department  at  the  University  of  Massachu-
setts,  Amherst.  Maria  Moreira  is  an  agri-
cultural  marketing  specialist  with  UMass 
Extension and project director of Flats Mentor 
Farm. Raquel Uchôa de Mendonça is an 
agricultural marketing specialist with UMass   
Extension. 
Endnote
1 The  collaborative  is  led  by  UMass  Extension  and 
includes the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural 
Resources,  Tufts  University,  Nuestras  Raíces,  the 
USDA  Farm  Service  Agency,  and  the  Southeastern 
Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership.
Top: Pipián sold at Compare Food.
Bottom: Maxixe sold at Market Basket and Demoulas.
Photographs by Maria Moreira
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New England farmers meet immigrant needs

http://www.bostonfed.org/commdev/c&b/2007/fall/Mangan_UMass_immigrant_farming.pdf

New England farmers meet immigrant needs

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