By: Ruben Estrada

In the summers The Small Farmers’ Project land is filled with employees and dozens of guests enjoying a day in their “U-Pick” berry fields. As winter approaches less labor is needed so often Margarito is the only person on site. Most days in the fall are spent prepping for the winter and working on projects that had to wait for the busy season to end.

Lane County farmer Margarito Palacios constructs a new chicken coop. Just about ten miles outside of Eugene, this land is home to the Small Farmers’ Project, a business run by Margarito, his family, and small group of Latinx family and friends.

Margarito Palacios is originally from the tropical state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. He has had to adapt to farming practices necessary for the temperate Pacific Northwest. As the president of Small Farmers’ Project he spends most of the fall prepping for the winter and will often be the only person at the farm during the season.

Margarito hammers in another shingle. A vendor of tomatoes, fresh eggs, berries and lettuce, the farm is like many in the region. It is, however, one of the few Latinx owned and operated farms serving Lane County, a fact Palacios takes pride in. “Most of us came to work earnestly, and this project gives us the opportunity to show them we are truthfully here to do good and to serve the community,” he says.

Months into the rainy season a few strawberries still remain in the fields, ripe and ready to be picked. Palacios has a passion for healthy farming practices and has helped make sure every crop at Small Farmers’ Project has been grown organically since the operation began. “I always say, drugs and sprays are the same thing. They hurt people, they kill people,”says Margarito.

The fields are Margarito’s home. Through Small Farmers’ Project he can create something for others while also finding his own connection to the crops he grows. “Here I can grow something delicious. Of course most food comes from the earth but when you grow it yourself it is healthier for yourself and better for everyone.”