“Diversity” Gardens Opening Doors to Alternative Agriculture
	By Jolene Stevens, Media Specialist, Northwest Area Extension ISU Extension Outreach Center, WITCC Campus, Bldg. B, 4647 Stone Ave. P.O. Box 3007, Sioux City, Iowa 51102-3007

      Looking for a Magnifico Pepper?  Or, perhaps a Tabasco Chile variety?  Perhaps you prefer the Thai Dragon taste or the Caribbean Red habanero pepper, the hottest of the hot peppers.  You will find all of them, green and growing, in the Diversity Garden Plot in Storm Lake.

      The garden or gardens in this case (nine in all) are the responsibility of a dedicated group of Hispanic families in the Storm Lake area.  The families are cooperating as volunteer gardeners in a pilot program developed to determine the feasibility of growing specific crops and the marketability of the produce as alternative crops for northwest Iowa.

      “While there’s an abundance of peppers, there’s plenty of other produce as well,” says Hector Velez, community liaison representative, Iowa Beef Processors, Storm Lake, and coordinator for the Diversity Gardens.  “The gardens include various varieties of tomatoes, tomatillo, sweet corn, squash, potatoes, onions, cucumbers, cabbage, several varieties of watermelons, and a selection of herbs.”

      “Our families could choose what they wanted to plant.  Seed companies and a local greenhouse donated some of the seeds and plants.  Others were brought in by the families themselves,” Velez continues.  “There’s been considerable interest in the project.”  Velez adds noting that the high proportion of apartment residents without space for their gardens welcomed the opportunity to grow produce at times unavailable locally.  Produce from the gardens may be used by the families themselves or may be marketed at the local farmers’ market.

      Individuals and families participating in the gardener project are Miguel Ornelas and family, Lorenzo Dominguez and family, Francisco Aldaba and family, Raymundo Villareal and family, Esteban Pelico and family, Salvador and Leopoldo Zavala, Francisco Arias, Jose R. Rolon, and Moises Vargas.

      Spring promotion of availability of the ten foot by twelve foot plots, without cost to the gardeners, was pretty much “word of mouth” with more interest than available plots, Velez says.  His own involvement in the effort stems from four years of working closely with the Hispanic population in Storm Lake and willingness to bridge diversity efforts in the community.  A native of Puerto Rico, he initially worked as a supervisor at IBP.

      Velez has worked closely with Eldon Everhart, area horticulturist, Iowa State University Extension, Harlan, who assisted with early organization of the gardens and also approved crop selection and makes suggestions for pest control measures and other cultural practices.

      Everhart was responsible for another “link” to the project.  He helped to get Kevin Carpenter and his students involved with the project.  Mr. Carpenter is the vocational agriculture instructor at North Polk High School in Alleman, Iowa.  Kevin’s students grew seedlings for the project in the school’s horticulture greenhouse as a hands-on learning experience and class project.

      Everhart also secured donations of seeds, seedlings, and plants for the project from Dave Armentrout, owner of Dave’s Greenhouse in Atlantic, Iowa; Gurney's Seed & Nursery Company, Yankton, South Dakota; and Asgrow Seed Company, Salinas, California.

      “Inter-agency cooperation has played a very important part in the initial success of this project," says Everhart who makes frequent visits to the plots.  “We have representatives of the Farmers Service Administration (FSA) and National Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS), Pastoral Outreach Ministry (Catholic Diocese of Sioux City), Comm ‘Unity’ Education, Ag Connect, IBP Inc., and Buena Vista County Extension Services.  Hector’s cooperation and dedication has also been a definite influence on enthusiasm for the project.”

      Everhart says he is hopeful the gardens can be continued another year if project funding can be found.  “One of the next hurdles that may also needed to be jumped is funding for small business start-up,” Everhart says.  “It would be great if the project could stimulate one or more of the participants to start a commercial business growing ethnic produce.  Unfortunately, that will take something that is in relatively short supply -- money!”

      Rex Wittrock, FSA/USDA, Storm Lake, is another of those who is hoping the project may be carried over for another year.  He has been responsible for finding grants, organizing a core of area residents for the focus group that set the stage for the project, and finding land for the garden plots.  This year’s gardens are located on acreage farmed by the Harold V. Geisinger II family and owned by Colby Development, Inc., Des Moines.

      “We’ve got a real involved team here with a lot of hard work,” Wittrock says.  “The project has meant a lot to the families who’ve had an opportunity to garden and to grow crops they’re familiar with for their diets.  Our initial idea was to demonstrate to the community and to entrepreneurs that the plots and produce could be a viable economic project as an outgrowth of the project.  We have learned a lot.  It’s hard to say at this point what could spin off.”

Reprinted with permission from the Fall 2000 issue (Vol. 17, No. 1) of The Iowa Horticulturist magazine, pages 10-11.
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