A Peak into the RAPP Workshop in San Diego

The following pictures were taken at the Refugee Agriculture Partnership Program Workshop hosted this year by the International Rescue Committee of San Diego December 15-17, 2011.

Larry Laverentz of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (above) and Hugh Joseph of ISED Solutions (below) manage the RAPP program and oversee the annual workshop.

Table Talk discussions were led by conference participants. Topics included approaches to accessing land, goat farming, establiment of valuable advisory councils, and farm safety/GAP certification.

Plenary and Breakout sessions allowed newer programs to learn from more established ones. Rachel Pollock of Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas (below) presents on new client screening, assessment, and tracking.

Hussein Muktar (below) from Cultivating Community of Maine

Ralph Achenbach of IRC San Diego (below) on micro producers and income patching collective marketing

Richard Molinar (above) and Michael Yang (below) of UC Davis explain the ins and outs of growing speciality Southeast Asian vegetables.

Jennifer Hashley of New Entry (below) discusses multi-farmer coordinated marketing

On the last day of the conference, participants had an opportunity to tour the City Heights Farmer's Market. Ellee Igoe of IRC (below) helped bring the market to the neighborhood. She explained the orgins and current success of the market.

Refugee and immigrant vendors selling fresh greens

Duck eggs (some salted and pickled), chicken eggs, and quail eggs for sale

Delicious prepared ethnic dishes are available for purchase too

The City Heights Farmers Market remains affordable for local residents due to incentive program, Fresh Fund, that supplements food stamps (below). A customer pays for jam using Fresh Fund tokens (above).

The next stop of the tour was IRC's New Roots Community Garden which has been in operation since 2009.

Individuals and families from diverse backgrounds grow various crops together in beds like these

The New Roots compost (above) and sink (below)  were constructed by IRC and could be replicated.

The last stop of the day was the IRC Aquaphonics farm located in the heart of the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego.

Tilapia fish grown in large tanks produce nitrogen rich wastewater that is filtered through pvc pipes to fertilize plants inside the greenhouse and outside in a nursey.

Powerpoint presentations and filmed plenary sessions will be available for viewing online in the near future. For more information about next year's conference, please contact hughjoseph@comcast.net or larry.laverentz@acf.hhs.gov. To learn more about the work of IRC in San Diego, contact ellee.igoe@rescue.org.