Support Immigrant Farmworker to Purchase a Farm!

My name is Rosendo Santizo. I am originally from Guatemala and came to the US in 2005 to support my mom and siblings. I have been a farmworker in the Pioneer Valley for more than 10 years. This year, I will be purchasing Winter Moon Roots Farm, a 30-acre organic root vegetable farm in Hadley, MA. I'm asking for donations to help me cover the costs of purchasing the farm equipment. As an immigrant farm worker who has been deeply invested in the local agricultural community for so many years, this opportunity is very exciting to me and my family. However, in order to do this, I need your help!

I started working for Winter Moon Roots in 2010, a few years after the farm began, harvesting, washing, and packing roots. I helped the farm grow into the thriving business that it is today, and the farm became a very important part of my life. In 2018 I started managing the farm and learned how to run the business.

It is an amazing opportunity for me to be able to continue to be part of the agricultural community as a farm owner, but I need your support in order to continue to thrive. The farming industry is predominantly white-led and has deep ties to inherited land and wealth. The process of shifting my role from a worker to an owner requires an immense amount of resources that are not readily available to immigrants and people of color. We are the backbone of local farms through the labor we provide, but we rarely own the means of production. Without community support, small farms would not be as vibrant in our community as they are today. This is why I am humbly asking for your support to donate to this fundraiser, so that Winter Moon Roots Farm can excel as one of the very few immigrant-owned farms in our region!

My goal is to raise $30,000 to offset part of the large loan that I must apply for to cover startup and equipment costs. Will you help me reach that goal? Your donations will help cover the cost of the tractors and equipment used at Winter Moon Roots Farm.

Over the years, Winter Moon Roots has been proud to do as much as we can to address food insecurity in MA every year, donating 10,000 lbs of roots every fall to the Greater Boston Food Banks and other local organizations such as the PVWC People’s Pantry. I'm excited to continue doing this under my ownership and to continue to be a strong part of the western MA farming community. Thank you so much for supporting this fundraiser - every little bit will be a huge help!