Our Partner Farm, MimoMex

Our partnering farm is MimoMex Farm, is located on 16 acres in the Black Dirt Region in the town of Goshen, New York. Goshen is situated about 46 miles from North Brooklyn, in a valley area known for its extremely fertile soil left over from an ancient glacial lake bottom.

Nestled within the bosom of the Northeast Appalachian ranges, this series of valleys is a combination of areas with rocky forest land and rich cultivatable soil that is chiefly devoted to the industry of agriculture. It is owned and operated by Martín & Gaudencia Rodriguez.

Martín & Gaudencia both grew up on farms in Mexico and have 20+ years of farming experience. They have been on their farm in Goshen for about 5 years, and own most of the land they cultivate. This will be their third year as CSA farmers; they partner with 2 other Brooklyn CSAs (Southside and Sunset Park).

MimoMex, named after Martín’s son, is a success story for the New Farmer Development Project, a program that encourages immigrants to farm in the region. The program runs a training course to teach immigrants who already have agricultural experience how to navigate the US farming industry.  MimoMex is the first graduating farm of NFDP to own its own land.

The Central Brooklyn CSA and The New York City Coalition Against Hunger

Although the Central Brooklyn CSA is a community-organized effort of Brooklyn citizens, we are able to provide low-cost shares for citizens through the Farm Fresh Initiative, a program run by the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

The Coalition’s original mission was to “coordinate the activities of the emergency food providers in the city so that issues can be identified, prioritized and addressed effectively.” Though its aims have expanded and evolved over the last two decades – for example, it has strengthened advocacy and legislative efforts and now provides national service participants to emergency food providers – food access for all New Yorkers has always remained the Coalition’s animating goal.

The Farm Fresh Initiative is a city-wide program model that addresses this question by providing families with choices while connecting small local farms to low and middle income New Yorkers in traditionally under-served communities.

The centerpiece of this citywide program is a unique mixed income Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model that makes healthy, organic, fresh vegetables accessible to community members of all income levels by offering a variety of personalized payment options, including the ability to purchase vegetable shares using SNAP (Food Stamps) benefits.

NYCCAH’s involvement in the Central Brooklyn CSA is to support the mixed-income and community building aspect of the CSA, provide funding for the subsidized share prices,  staffing support, and an AmeriCorps volunteer who coordinates the CSA.

If you are able to, please consider donating to NYCCAH to help programs like ours running by clicking here.