Lessons and Traditions from Hmong American Farming in Wisconsin

Hmong American farmer Wa Chong Vue grows an enormous variety of fresh vegetables, berries and flowers 🌺 on a small plot of land outside La Crosse, WI. Vue grew up in a mountain village in Laos, working the thin, fragile soil to grow rice and corn. In the 1970s, the Vietnam War forced Vue’s family to flee their home, first hiding and foraging in the jungle, then eventually making the perilous escape to a refugee camp in Thailand. In the 1990s, Vue immigrated to La Crosse. After working in a career outside of farming, Vue is spending his retirement back out on the land. Today, he uses the farming lessons he first learned with his family in Laos to produce a bountiful crop for the farmer’s market. 🥬🥕

#hmongfarming #traditional #clean #wisconsin #farmersmarket #farmer #food #freshfood #americanfarming

📣 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 📣

➡️ Tens of thousands of drinking water wells in rural Wisconsin are polluted with unsafe levels of nitrates, 90% from agricultural sources.
➡️ 30% of Wisconsin’s land is used for agriculture, more than 14 million acres.
➡️ Between 1995-2020, Wisconsin farmers received $10.1 BILLION in subsidies.
➡️ The vast majority (62%) of subsidies were for programs incentivizing commodities such as corn, soybeans and dairy products

✅ RESOURCES FOR YOU ✅

What we need in the next Farm Bill:
https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/2023-f...

Learn about climate-smart agriculture:
https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/our-wo...

Taste the Change: Kernza, the World's First Perennial Grain Crop
https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/taste-...

▫️▫️▫️▫️

CONNECT WITH US

⟡ Instagram:   / cleanwisconsin  
⟡ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
⟡ Spotify Podcasts:https://open.spotify.com/show/1XtxTJL...
⟡ Facebook:   / cleanwisconsin  
⟡ Email List: https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/news/

📕 Video Chapters:
0:00 - Intro
0:25 - From Laos to La Crosse (Wisconsin)
1:08 - Chong's Garden
1:38 - Hmong Farming is hard work
2:33 - Joys of Hmong Farming
2:55 - Everyone can do it

Clean Wisconsin works to combat climate change and pollution in our air, water and land. We strive to ensure a healthy future for every Wisconsin community. ☀️

Support our work!
https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/support/