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From Mexico to Illinois, One Farmer's Journey
82 Plays9 days ago
Antonio Delgado has been a trailblazer in northern Illinois’ food system since 1980, when he moved to Elgin from Michoacan, Mexico. He helped establish one of the region’s first farm-to-table restaurants and has since gone on to operate his own farm and farm-to-table restaurant. Kate speaks with Antonio about farming journey. This episode was supported by Raices Latinas, a storytelling project that celebrates the contributions of Latine farmers to McHenry county.
The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org.
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Guest Bios
Antonio Delgado is a farmer and restaurant owner based in Marengo, Illinois. He has been a life-long food entrepreneur, since working on his family farm in Paracaurao, Michoacan, Mexico. Antonio has carried the traditional farming practices he learned into his life as a farmer in Northern Illinois, where he currently owns and operates Rancho El Pitayo and Isabel’s Family Restaurant. He believes in eating simply and eating well.
Sheri Doyel has been working with direct-market farmers for the past 20 years, supporting them through education, consultation, and networking. In 2006, as the Farm Forager for the City of Chicago, Sheri recruited farmers to sell in the city-run markets and enforced producer-only standards at both City markets and the independently-run Green City Market. For ten years at Angelic Organics Learning Center in Caledonia, IL, Sheri facilitated the year-long Stateline Farm Beginnings program and provided leadership to strengthen the CRAFT network (Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training), as well as working nationally on best practices in farmer training via the Farm Beginnings Collaborative. In 2019, Sheri joined McHenry County College as the Director for the new Center for Agrarian Learning. She also owns and operates a very part-time farm business, Tiny Tempest Farm, in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Tiny Tempest Farm is a micro-nursery specializing in vegetable, herb, and flower seedlings for home gardeners.
Helpful Links
Credits
This work was funded and supported by the USDA National Organic Program, Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP)
Produced by Kate Cowie-Haskell
Podcast art by Geri Shonka
Music:
- Ghost Solos by Lucas Gonze, from the Free Music Archive
- Chasin It by Jason Shaw, from the Free Music Archive
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Taproot Project and Midwestern Agriculture
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, this is Kate, and welcome to the Taproot Project, where we share stories of changemakers in Midwestern agriculture. Today, we are visiting McHenry County, Illinois, about two hours northwest of Chicago.
00:00:14
Speaker
This rural county close to Chicago offers a lot of opportunity for small and specialty crop farmers, and since the 60s, the agricultural identity of this area has been shaped by Latine farmers.
Antonio Delgado's Story and Latino Farming in Illinois
00:00:28
Speaker
Antonio Delgado is one Latino farmer who has been a trailblazer in Northern Illinois since he arrived in 1980. Today, I'm sharing just a bit of his story.
00:00:53
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I connected with Antonio through Raices Latinas, a local initiative in McHenry County to celebrate the legacy of Latino farmers in the area. Raices Latinas is an initiative, again, it's not its own nonprofit or organization.
00:01:09
Speaker
That's purpose and goal is to raise up the contributions of Latino farmers, farm workers, landowners in the rich community.
00:01:21
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agricultural history of McHenry County. Sherry Doyle is the director at the Center for Agrarian Learning at McHenry County College. MCC is one of the five local organizations supporting the Raizas Latinas initiative to collect and share stories from the region's Latino farmers.
00:01:40
Speaker
we've been collecting stories basically. So we thought maybe we could get artifacts and um have a museum exhibit of letters and photographs and and things that people could look at and read about migration and labor and also land ownership in the Latino community.
00:02:01
Speaker
But there wasn't much. And so we decided to just start collecting stories and interviewing people.
Documenting Latino Farmers' Contributions
00:02:07
Speaker
um And so we have now, I think, six stories documented, and we're going to put them into probably a ah relatively rough, but hopefully compelling documentary.
00:02:23
Speaker
ah you You mentioned the um like deep history and rich history of ah Latino farmers in the county. What what what has that contribution looked like?
00:02:36
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I think... um
00:02:40
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think it's very hard to quantify and articulate because it has been, um
00:02:50
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you know, not something that people talk about. Right. I mean, it's, it's not something that has been celebrated or, um, um, some people don't feel safe being very public about being here.
00:03:07
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and um, And others have moved very quickly away from agriculture and encouraging their children to become professionals in other industries that might be more stable or have more cultural status. so um So I think the contributions are incredibly valuable and actually essential to farm profitability and um food production here in the county.
00:03:42
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But um yeah, the whole purpose of rice as Latinas is to start to
00:03:52
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hopefully create a situation where people can feel proud of the legacy and um so that it it can, you know, we we can't change the food system necessarily. Like I don't know how effectively will be making farms more profitable necessarily.
00:04:09
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But we could certainly impact um the perception of who is a farm worker, who is a land owner, and why should why should we value the work that they're doing?
00:04:24
Speaker
you know Because it is incredibly valuable. so so So that's the way of saying I i can't really answer your question because it kind of lies under the surface.
00:04:39
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Antonio is one local farmer that has been featured by Reyes Latinas. His story is richer and longer than we were able to cover in our short conversation.
Antonio's Journey from Mexico to Illinois
00:04:49
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So I'll give just a quick bio.
00:04:52
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Antonio was born and raised in Paracuro, Mexico, where he lived with his family on a 40-acre farm until he was 13, and his family moved into town. In his early 20s, Antonio followed a work opportunity to pick fruit in Washington state, and after some time spent between Mexico and the U.S., he arrived in Elgin, Illinois 1980.
00:05:15
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He found work at a restaurant in Elgin and eventually helped the restaurant owner establish a farm to supply the restaurant, one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in the area.
00:05:27
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Antonio worked at that restaurant for over 20 years. And in 1993, he purchased his own farm, Rancho El Pitallo, in Marengo, Illinois.
00:05:39
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He still lives and farms at Rancho El Pitayo with his wife. They also operate their own restaurant now, a place called Isabel's Family Restaurant. Most of what Antonio grows now goes directly to the restaurant.
00:05:53
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Antonio spoke to me from the dining room at Isabel's, so there is some background noise. Carlos Acostas, coordinator for Raíces Latinas, assisted with the translation. I started by asking Antonio where he grew up and how he learned to farm.
00:06:08
Speaker
Well, then I'd just like to start ah ah at the beginning and hear more about um your childhood connection to farming. Can you can you tell us about the the farm that you grew up on?
00:06:20
Speaker
see i you chris you're mass see christian no rental me ah grew up, I was born and grew up Mexico. years old. Never school.
00:06:31
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i sal authority never went to school so yes Yeah, you worked you worked with your father and grandfather on the farm, right? i asked this boom but i give me a way my Yeah, what did what did you grow on that farm and what did it look like? Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, yuca, green beans, pinto beans, corn, papaya, bananas, sweet cane.
00:06:59
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Sugar cane? Mm-hmm. And caña. Okay. Three kinds cañas. Three different types of sugar cane. Mm-hmm. I asked what they grew on the farm, was it just for their own subsistence or were they actually selling what they grew?
00:07:26
Speaker
no they we would sound we would sell everything guanttoakras tenan in mexicoco but in that's a man of forty ares i asked them how many acres was their farm in mexico And he said 40 acres. All by hand.
00:07:44
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He said that was the hardest plant, was the rice. What did your grandfather and your father teach you how to grow food? Are there specific things you remember learning from them?
00:07:55
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what did your grandfather and your father teach you about how to grow food are there specific things you remember learning from them thanks When my grandfather was planting, there were no pesticides, there was no fertilizer.
00:08:12
Speaker
um no no funnegar well in a dipoy i well know avia from megan this no acu scientists and with my during the when my grandfather was planting there were no pesticides there was no fertilizer
00:08:29
Speaker
buta aconarano them v one the you They would actually use um bat feces to fertilize. and spray, you make the fires in the morning with wood and all the smoke going on very lawn and the plants.
00:08:51
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And that's how you take care of the bugs. And it would last all day, the smoke? No, you only only in the morning. You got to do in the morning, like 5 o'clock, one no wind. Antonio was the eldest of 16 children and never attended school so that he could help support the rest of the family.
00:09:08
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When he was 21, he followed work to Washington State, where he picked fruit.
Transition and Adaptation in US Farming Practices
00:09:12
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I asked him how he found that job. i go to Washington first, yeah. And I pick in cherries, tomatoes, sweet corn,
00:09:23
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for take on it fast as i'll draw as as saran join in washington and the mean can not pick the va one on the dee galamo you're going to united state when you When you're coming north, you go to where there's work you Just follow everybody.
00:09:37
Speaker
it's like so but tote priest this jamao saas gave us a washington or so for the letter you guys make you again i asked them so when you left mexico did you know you were going to washington or just wound up there is' like i just wound up there if' i That's where everybody was going. Yeah. Where you go, two months a day.
00:09:59
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You go where there's work. And was that your, so you had been on the farm and then your family moved to town. So was going to Washington your first time working on a farm since you were a kid?
00:10:11
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What was, was, what was that experience like? Only the difference is the tractors, the big fields, the ranchers, the ranchers,
00:10:22
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The manzana. Yeah, the big difference was the tractors and it was just a lot bigger for for apple trees. That's all the same. No making difference.
00:10:33
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Ten cents the pound for green beans. That's what he got paid. Ten cents a pound. so ten cents a farm I'm thinking about the friends I know who grew up on farms and a lot of them, because of that experience felt like, oh, I never want to be a farmer. But um you're both a farmer and you're a restaurant owner. why Why have you stayed connected to food in such a big way?
00:11:00
Speaker
i don't know. i like my I love my farm and I love him working on the farm. It's like I enjoy. And the restaurant, it's because I make money here. and know like I my mother. I got to support my my family.
00:11:15
Speaker
in
00:11:18
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But I don't like my mother. But no school, when you come from Mexico, no school, you got to work in the duty jobs. I said, but I like to work in the restaurant.
00:11:29
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I like to work in anything.
00:11:32
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In 1980, Antonio moved to Elgin. The very next day after he arrived, he started working at a restaurant owned by a man named Paul, who Antonio is still good friends with.
00:11:44
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And I found very, the best boss in the United States. 97, my boss, and still very good friend. So you you helped him get farm-to-table situation set up at his restaurant. Can you describe, um tell that story?
00:12:01
Speaker
When nine necks when he got, when Antonio got here, he had a farm, farmland of about nine acres.
00:12:12
Speaker
And he had a tractor. But nobody worked on the farm.
00:12:18
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and i can when i see the rank know not imagine i i have an adventure but nobody worked on the bar yeah there you to you the christian va time secrets And I told them i'll I'll grow you vegetables if you want to. And the said, you know how to do that?
00:12:35
Speaker
And he said, yeah, I know. So he liked it a lot. It got him on You're in c la la hotan buter that paa and that time ran televisionviium so he liked it a lot it got him on tv yeah you're you're in a You set up of a farm operation, but you're in a new country, a new language, new climate. what How are you learning to farm in this new place? You a ranch in a new place. Different climate, different methods. How did you learn? It's easy.
00:13:15
Speaker
If you want to work, it's this easy. easy. It's easy. You have tractors. There are tractors. Yeah, and it's easier here because there's tractors, there's machinery.
00:13:28
Speaker
So no usavas tractor or maquinaria in Mexico? Mulas and weyes. Okay, I asked him if he used tractors or machinery in Mexico and he said no, it was mules and plows. Did you, when you started farming, did you connect with any like technical assistants or other farmers or were you kind of solo operation?
00:13:51
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After over 20 years working with Paul, Antonio purchased his own farm, Rancho Pitallo. He raised his kids there alongside goats and cows and vegetables for his restaurant and his favorite plants from Mexico.
00:14:03
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after over twenty years working with paul antonio purchased his own farm rancho elpitao he raised his kids there alongside goats and cows and vegetables for his restaurant and his favorite plants from mexico So you bought your current ranch in 1993 in Marengo. Can you describe the land that you're on right now?
00:14:29
Speaker
What do you grow?
Organic Practices and Community Impact
00:14:30
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okay crisis thing and what kind of but oh Tomatoes, all kinds of peppers. I got a guayaba from Mexico.
00:14:40
Speaker
I got a pitaya from Mexico. I got a fig. I grow a lot of alfalfa too. He grows the alfalfa to feed his goats.
00:14:53
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Goats and cows. He grows peppers, all kinds of peppers. Chilli mazana, apple, pears, peaches.
00:15:07
Speaker
Wow. yeah And are you still using some of those same um organic methods that your father taught you? Like, are you still smoking in the morning or things like that?
00:15:20
Speaker
I use a different heat. I'm embarrassed make a smug in here. You can do garlic mix will and spray the trees.
00:15:32
Speaker
You can put in a never clean around the tree, even grazing. And I put in a sheep manure, cow manure in the trees.
00:15:43
Speaker
That's what I make fertilizer. Or burn something and if I put in the ashes. Okay, give me a try. Senisa. Senisa and cow and sheep.
00:15:59
Speaker
That's what I fertilize my plants. I asked him how, at first he had mentioned how he's fertilizing, so I went back and asked how he's actually, um what does he do for to for for pesticides? And he said bought he buys organic.
00:16:18
Speaker
You buy some lucky bugs, different bugs, eat bugs. Oh, so he actually buys bugs that will then eat other bugs. Yeah, eat the larvae, eggs.
00:16:28
Speaker
Yeah. I asked him how often he has to release these bugs to kill the bad bugs. He said once a year. I asked Antonio if he has seen customer interest in organic foods change over the years, both at his farm and at the restaurant.
00:16:44
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He said, yes, he's seen a change from farm customers, but at the restaurant? It's important to him to have organic food.
00:16:54
Speaker
i guess um miss in board it's important to him to have organic because you phone moving in i one in my custom Because I eat well, I want my customers to eat well.
00:17:08
Speaker
The menu at Isabel's is no fuss, but vast and varied. On any given day, you can order pancakes or chilaquiles or strip steak and salad.
00:17:19
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The menu changes seasonally, and a separate Mexican menu is always available. are Are you the chef at the restaurant?
00:17:29
Speaker
Me and my wife. Ella hace la mayoría de los postres. His wife makes most of the desserts. I only make zucchini bread, cornbread, and what else.
00:17:43
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And carrot cakes. And the rest, Mary make. What's your favorite thing on the menu? Yes, tu favorito en el menu.
00:17:54
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Everything I make is good. What do you think your dad or your grandfather would say if they saw your farm now? They would be proud. No, he was just saying, you gotta love farming.
00:18:06
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If you love farming, you're always gonna have food. Extra. Extra food.
00:18:16
Speaker
yeah la being for and invite muja come me lu paalta he was just saying you gotta love farming if you love farming you're always goingnna have food extra extra for I asked Carlos if there was anything he wanted to share given his experience collecting the stories from Latino farmers in McHenry County.
00:18:37
Speaker
Well, I guess what I've learned in the time that I've been doing the project is just how much of a magnet agriculture was to the growth and development of the Latino community.
00:18:55
Speaker
um Again, Antonio... has been out here, and noate and Antonio and his family have been here since 93. I've met other families that because of agriculture moved into the county.
00:19:10
Speaker
i mean, they were migrating here since the 60s and started staying permanently in the 80s, which I never, I knew they were here, but I didn't understand the extent as to how long they were here. And again,
00:19:26
Speaker
how much of a role they played in the success of agriculture for now you're talking 60
00:19:49
Speaker
Thank you to Antonio for taking time to speak with me. Thank you to Carlos for coordinating with me and sharing his time, and to Sherry for her insights about Raizas Latinas.
00:20:00
Speaker
You can learn more about the initiative at the link in the show notes. The Taproot Project is produced by me, Kate Cowie-Haskell. The Taproot Project is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program.
00:20:12
Speaker
a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning in organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community.
00:20:23
Speaker
You can learn more organictransition.org.