A program to strengthen support systems for Hmong farmers is underway in Wisconsin. Starting in the spring of 2023 the University of Wisconsin Division of Extension prioritized outreach and support for Wisconsin’s Hmong farmers who make up a significant amount of Wisconsin farmers’ market vendors. Since then, Gaonou Thao, Hmong/HMoob Farm Outreach Specialist with UW-Madison Division of Extension, has been hard at work developing and communicating culturally and linguistically relevant educational materials to Hmong farmers.

Hmong farmers/growers have a unique blend of cultural heritages and sustainable agriculture practices that have been passed down over multiple generations. Hmong farming enterprises have unique questions and needs, and many prefer accessing resources in Hmong rather than English. Previously in Wisconsin, there had not been a centralized location for Hmong farmers to ask questions and get peer and expert support. So in July of 2023, Thao, along with the Hmong Farmers Strengthening Project team, launched a Facebook group to provide an online community to support Wisconsin Hmong Farmers to practice sustainable agriculture and maximize the profitability of their farming businesses, and to celebrate Hmong food culture and highlight the different ways that Hmong people are involved in agriculture beyond traditional farming. The private Facebook group is a place to exchange information, ask questions of other Hmong farmers and receive science-based content about agriculture from the Division of Extension and the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

At first, activity was slow in the Wisconsin Hmong Farmers Discussion Group and the team was unsure how many people were being reached, but then they met with multiple farmers at in-person workshops who said that they have been looking at the posts and found them valuable. It takes time for farmers to trust the project, and the team is seeing success as more and more farmers – 318 as of this month – connect in this supportive, peer-driven community. Along with the private Facebook group, there is a public page dedicated to Wisconsin Hmong growers where anyone can explore sustainable agriculture practices, profitability tips, and celebrate Hmong culture.

Diversified vegetable farms are often less than 5 acres, which makes it challenging to find land to lease. These unique challenges are addressed in a series of in-person workshops offered in Hmong. Thao makes it a point to be accessible in her role and to show up to in-person events. Often she interacts with farmers who say they have never heard of Extension. The aim of this project is to build trust and resources specific to Hmong farmers so that they can benefit from all that Extension has to offer.

Growing diversified vegetables is a way of life and is part of Hmong growers’ livelihoods, so many do not see it as a business and therefore are not accustomed to recordkeeping. To show the importance of recordkeeping, starting the fall of 2023 we provided farmers a recordkeeping toolkit and demonstrated that at the workshop. The recordkeeping toolkit, provided by 2023 North Central Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Center funding, includes a receipt book for farmers to easily provide customers with a receipt and to track their sales, a mesh bag for farmers to use for keeping their expense receipts, a three ring binders that we had assembled with the recordkeeping templates, and a filing box and filing folders to keep everything together. In the spring of 2024 alone, over 100 farmers attended workshops focused on recordkeeping and farmland lease, among other topics! 100 percent of participants stated that they understood record keeping after the workshops. 84 percent stated that they are going to start keeping records as a result of the workshops.

Upcoming workshops:

• Stevens Point on September 16, 2024
• Manitowoc on November 16, 2024
• Milwaukee in the fall of 2024 (exact date to be determined).

For more information, contact:

• Gaonou Thao, gaonou.thao@wisc.edu, 715-907-2527
• Ann Vaj, ann@groundswellconservancy.org, 608-258-9797
• Chiang Rai Lor, chiangrai@csacoalition.org, 608-709-0177