Bringing Southeast Asia to the Southeast United States: New forms of alternative agriculture in Homestead, Florida

Abstract

Immigrant farmers from Southeast Asia have brought knowledge of tropical fruit and vegetable production from their home countries to Homestead, Florida. They have developed a new style of farming, one that most closely resembles agricultural systems described as ''homegardens.'' Although biodiverse agricultural systems are generally thought to be commercially unviable, homegarden farmers successfully manage crop diversity as an economic strategy. By focusing on growing a mixture of specialty Southeast Asian herbs, fruits, and vegetables, the farmers have created their own economic niche and have shielded themselves from the competition of high-volume, single commodity producers. This paper shows that the Homestead homegardens constitute an alternative form of agriculture that is defined by their agroecological and socioeconomic attributes. It also shows that although the homegarden farms are a form of ''alternative agriculture,'' they do not operate outside of conventional, global systems of agricultural trade; rather the homegarden farms are embedded in global agriculture. The Homestead case problematizes the tendency to delineate between the global and local scales, and alternative and conventional sectors in agriculture today. This paper concludes that the emergence of the Homestead homegardens can only be understood by taking a place-based approach to studying the environment in which the homegardens are situated as well as identifying the large-scale influences on Miami-Dade County.

Farm Adaptation at the Rural-Urban Interface

“…These goals, values, and motivations are influenced by the demographic characteristics of the farm family (Colman & Elbert, 1984;Gasson, 1973;Gasson & Errington, 1993;Lobley & Potter, 2004;Salamon, 1992;Shucksmith & Herrmann, 2002). The associations among gender, ethnicity, culture, length of time farming, farm structure, and development have been well documented in the literature (Imbruce, 2007;Sachs, 1996;Salamon, 1992;Wells & Gradwell, 2001.…”

“…Wells (1996) also has shown the linkage between ethnicity and farming subsystems in California strawberry production, finding that Japanese, Mexican and Anglo growers brought different sets of resources to their farms' development, and that the different social networks associated with each ethnic group created and reinforced farm management styles over time. Recent research on immigrant farmers from Southeast Asia in the Miami Metro region found that the unique motivations, social networks, and style of farming (intensive and diverse) has enabled these small family farms to thrive by taking advantage of niche markets and national distribution networks despite high land rents (Imbruce, 2007). The increase in the number of Hispanic, Asian, Native American and African American farmers (USDA, NASS, 2007a) reinforces the need to understand how cultural nuances influence larger production patterns on the RUI landscape.…”

Tree Diversity in Homegarden Land Use of Mawsmai Village Karst Landscape, Meghalaya, Northeast, India

“…Therefore, the absence of immigrants might have supported plant diversity of the homegardens. However, immigrants were found to introduce new skills in managing homegardens and making them more fruitful (Imbruce, 2007). Therefore, the absence of immigration may have affected the development of homegarden land use which is reflected in the number of homegardens in the village.…”

“…Tree density was reported to be 342 ± 74 trees ha Tree class (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) was the most abundant with a share of 74% of total tree density. There was a sharp decline in tree density from lower to higher diameter classes with class 40-50 cm DBH as an exception, since no trees were reported in this class.…”

Parallel alternatives: Chinese-Canadian farmers and the Metro Vancouver local food movement

“…However, as summarised in Chapter 1, alternative food networks continue to be framed as a relatively recent phenomenon associated with alternative agri-food movements and/or niche markets for elite consumers and consumers concerned with food safety. The alternative food networks literature largely ignores the work of farmers of colour and the food networks in which they are involved (but see Alkon & Norgaard, 2009;Alkon, 2007;Imbruce, 2007).…”