Michelle Hughes
TED
Michelle Hughes is the Director of GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development Project (NFDP), which identifies and trains immigrants with agricultural experience to establish their own family farms. Since 2000, the project has supported the establishment of 22 immigrant-owned farms by offering production and business training, land identification, marketing support and a microcredit loan fund. NFDP farmers keep 325 acres of farmland in production and bring local products to 60 farmers markets and 18 CSAs throughout New York City. During her 7 years with the NFDP, Michelle has brought her Spanish interpretation, translation and cross cultural skills to the project to help people recognize the breadth of skills and knowledge that they already possess that can be leveraged to create successful farm businesses. She has a BS in natural resource management and agroecology and is a board member of the National Young Farmer Coalition.
Cartoon by Bob Moran
