A Talk with Reynaldo

By Hannah Westheimer, Local Farm & Food Artisan Reseacher

On Monday evening Mary Ann and I traveled two hours from Philadelphia into beautiful Lebanon County farmland to visit Landisdale Farm and to hear –in Spanish—the story of Reynaldo, a man from Peru who helps Dan and Rachel Landis work their farm.

Reynaldo is part of a program called MESA (Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture) that sponsors international farmers to come to the US for training in sustainable and organic agriculture. In exchange, Reynaldo is expected to use his new knowledge for a project to benefit his home village in Chinchero, Peru. He’s looking forward to introducing new varieties of vegetables and organic methods of growing them. Currently, only potatoes and quinoa are grown (with the use of chemicals) there. Reynaldo was excited to learn about what HLF does, as he also wants to open a vegetable market and have classes to teach his villagers how to prepare the vegetables he plans to grow.

Dan and Rachel shared with us their belief in the benefits of MESA and other similar programs for all parties involved. They are learning Spanish and have enjoyed visiting some of their past international guests in their home countries. I was thrilled to talk with Reynaldo and I hope to one day visit his community garden in Chinchero, Peru!