Memorial to 9/11 victim turns refugees into farmers

The agriculture industry may not be the first place most think to look for the legacy of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but a Massachusetts farming program is hoping to carry on the work started by one of the victims. John Ogonowski, the pilot on American Airlines Flight 11 that crashed into the World Trade Center during the attacks, had been a farmer as well. He had served as the first farming mentor in the New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, launched to teach refugees farming skills.

The program "has quietly trained about 150 refugees of war, famine and genocide in modern farming to help them integrate into American life," Russell Contreras of The Associated Press reports. "On farms along the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, the refugees have slowly replaced aging farmers and put back into use land that has been idle for years, the program's organizers said." Project director Jennifer Hashley said of the refugees, "Some were farmers. Some come from a family of farmers. What we do is provide them with the means to return to agriculture by figuring out financial resources and developing a production plan."

Following the terrorist attacks, Ogonowski's widow Peggy helped create a farm trust as a memorial to her husband, and Tufts University secured $500,000 in grants to expand the program and train more farmers. Participants complete a six-week agriculture and commercial farming course at Tufts before entering a three-year transition program in which they farm small plots, typically earning $5,000 to $10,000 a year to help supplement their non-farm incomes, Contreras writes.

After three years, farmers lease a plot from the Ogonowski trust or the project helps them find other land. "You hear all sorts of languages when you're out here," said Tsimba, a refugee who said the program helped her learn the basics of farming. "We pick up new ideas from each other." The program has also developed a reputation for teaching local food skills, attracting an American clientele. In three years it has grown from 15 trainees a year to 30, over half of them Americans. (Read more)