In the mid-2000s, two school-aged children, a newborn baby, a fulltime job, lack of rest and farming on land an hour away from home pushed HAFA member, Song Moua, to the verge of ending her family farm business.
Song struggled to find a sense of balance with her family responsibilities and the farm business until her husband, Lenny Xiong, saw the importance of locally grown food and realized the farm business was more profitable than a fulltime job.
Now they both farm fulltime during the growing season, and their operation, Hmong Tab Laj Farm, brings them a sustainable livelihood doing the thing they are passionate about. Their kids are older and able to help out, and they’ve even leased 12-acres in Cottage Grove for another 10 years.
“We are happy to have this 10 year contract. It’s allowing us to increase our perennial production which 
helps our income increase because we can sell more to the HAFA Alternative Markets Program.
And now Song and Lenny are able to focus on financial aspects of their farm business instead of worrying about land access. Other aspects of the business that Song and Lenny wish to focus on this year including focusing on profitable crops and investing in equipment that will make their farm run smoothly.
The husband and wife duo have taken their knowledge gained from HAFA trainings this year and re-evaluated their farm business. They calculated their cost of production for each crop and decided to cut 40% of their crop varieties due to lack of profitability while still maintaining a healthy variety.
Their second goal is to prevent crop loss throughout the season.
“We hope to extend our selling season through the winter and sell frozen strawberries and rhubarb. We also want to make fermented leafy greens.”
The family hopes to also launch their first packaged product this year through HAFA’s newly launched Value-Added Program. The program allows families to use a commercial kitchen to process and package their vegetables and sell it in a different form allowing for an additional form of income.
“I am thankful my husband joined me in the farm business because we wouldn’t be as successful as we are right now without the commitment of the whole family.”
We are dedicated to advancing the prosperity of Hmong farmers through cooperative endeavors, capacity building and advocacy. HAFA was started and is led by family farmers. Organizing is in our DNA.