After a long and uncertain autumn and winter following Hurricane Helene, the Gaia Herbs farm is back in full swing.
This season means many things for the company and its team, but one of the most anticipated is the return of our seasonal farm workers, many of whom have been with us for decades and multiple generations.
In this article, Gaia Herbs’ Director of Farm Operations, Kate Renner, gives us an inside look at what spring looks like on the 270 acre regenerative organic certified herb farm (™) (ROC), with a focus on our seasonal farmers as well as a quick update post-Helene, and a peek at some of the innovations in store for the 2025 growing season.
Preparing For Spring On The Gaia Herbs Farm
Spring has sprung fast in Western North Carolina, making our low winter temps a distant memory.
However, Renner explains that much preparation for the growing season occurs before the spring and the return of the seasonal farm crew.
“Over winter, we started thinking about our seeding plan, what crops are going in what field, crop rotation, and the quantities our supply chain team feels they need for products. We also acquire all the feedstocks for the potting mix (we make our own) and have all our seeds in inventory.“We do a lot of that in the winter before spring hits, so we can start seeding when the team gets here in February and March.”
Who Is The Team? Meet The Seasonal Farm Workers
Since Gaia Herbs' inception, the company has been dedicated to a soil-to-supplement model, in which we grow many of the herbs used in our products organically and regeneratively.
Although we can’t possibly grow them all, the farming aspect is unusual in the industry, and many people have wondered how we do it.
Gaia Herbs’ seasonal farmers are at the heart of the farm’s longevity, viability, and success.
Meet “The Co-Managers Of The Gaia Herbs Farm”
Gaia Herbs has employed seasonal farm workers through the H2A visa program for 25 years.
All the farmers are from Mexico, and many have been returning for multiple years to multiple decades.
The seasonal farm worker program started 28 years ago, when the farm needed seasonal help and the company was told to find George Mendez.
Mendez, a United States citizen, met with the company founder and recruited his family from Mexico to work on the farm. With his help, the seasonal farmer program took shape, and he’s been with Gaia Herbs for 28 years.
This year, the company employs 27 farmers, some of whom have multiple generations working for Gaia Herbs.
Says Renner, “Half of the farmers arrive by the end of February, and there are 12 en route right now who will make up the rest of our team of 27. All but two come up from San Luis Potosí, two brothers come up from Hidalgo, and everybody is returning who was here last year.”
Renner says many of the farmers are from the same family, “It’s very heart-warming to know they have family connections here.”
Renner says she sees them as “the co-managers of the farm,” and they have taught her so much of what she knows.
She offered an introduction to two of their most tenured farmers.
“Servando has worked with us for 24 years, and now he has his brother, son-in-law, and other family members here.
“Lucio is our second most tenured, between decades of experience and generations of experience.
“I pretty much learned everything I know from them. They know this farm inside and out, the different personalities of the fields, soil characteristics, and which plants will do well.”
The first group of seasonal farmers will stay until the end of September, and the second group until the end of October, during which time they plant, tend, and harvest well over a million plants.
Says Renner, “I think it is very uncommon in the industry to have seasonal farmers come back year after year like this.”
Gaia Herbs does not take our farmers’ commitment for granted, and has invested substantially in farm worker welfare projects and programs to ensure their comfort and success.
How We Are Investing In Our Seasonal Farm Crew
It’s no secret that migrant farmers in the United States are often expected to live and work in suboptimal to deplorable conditions.
Think shared bunk houses with only 50 square feet of sleeping-only space per person with no air conditioning, you share with up to 15 people, and inadequate shared bathing (1 toilet facility per 15 people and 1 shower head for every 10 persons) and cooking spaces (1 burner per 5 persons).
Somehow, that’s what passes as legal and acceptable for the people who travel thousands of miles to work long, physically demanding hours to grow and harvest the food we all enjoy.
This is not the case at Gaia Herbs, where the company has invested significantly in our farm workers’ welfare.
Renner explains: “Part of the H2A contract regulation is that you provide housing for employees. It’s a regulation, and under that regulation, you need to abide by the rules of the division of labor and their criteria.
“We’ve always provided housing, but it’s been off-farm. We have been and are today gold-star growers, but that award is given through the division of labor. To give some perspective, the housing checklist was derived in 1989, and the only update to it was in 2007 at which point "a bed with a mattress in good repair with a clean cover" was added. So, to meet their criteria is not necessarily something to celebrate.
“We wanted to go above and beyond the gold star standard, with an emphasis of providing the human dignity of privacy.”
Gaia Herbs achieved this last year by completing six on-site housing units for seasonal farm workers.
What does this look like?
- Six separate units, instead of a bunker style, so they can have family units
- Many people having their own rooms
- A porch with grills for each unit
- Flat screen TVs
- Fully equipped kitchens with two fridges for a maximum of 3-5 people
- A washer and dryer inside every unit
- Ultra-thick, consciously manufactured Leesa mattresses
- A personal address and mailbox for receiving things like prescriptions, which helps eliminate significant barriers to health care
- Access to the entire farm for play and leisure
“They also have bikes, so they can ride down to work and enjoy the farm outside of work; they have the whole farm as their backyard,” says Renner.
This project has been in process for several years, and Renner touts the ribbon cutting as the top highlight of her year at Gaia Herbs.
Says Renner, “Our seasonal farmers are also entitled to all the benefits our full-time staff enjoys, (free organic produce, lunches, free and reduced priced Gaia Herbs products, wellness opportunities, holiday paid time off, assurance of a living wage), trainings conducted in culturally appropriate language including employee handbook policies (grievance reporting, harassment, discrimination), etc.
They also have access to free health care services through Vecinos Inc, a local non-profit, have time to pursue continuing education, and even enjoy yoga classes done in a culturally appropriate way.
To learn more, check out: The Who and the Why of the Gaia Herbs Farm Worker Housing Project.
A Day In The Life Of A Gaia Herbs Farm Worker
When asked to describe an average day in the life of a Gaia Herbs farm worker, Renner laughed and said, “Oh, that’s a tough one!”
Regardless, she continued. “We have such a diversity of tasks. So we have a team that oversees cultivation so they look at weed management, there’s a crew that oversees cultivation and make recommendations for parcels that may have gone beyond mechanical cultivation management to hand-weeding
“There’s a team that oversees the greenhouse, so they make sure they have their eyes on every plant in the greenhouse and at every stage of development so they can inform the tractor team on when to get the fields ready for transplanting seedlings out into the fields.”
In case you were wondering, over 1 million herbs are in cultivation this year, not including plants grown for the vegetable program for employees and charities.
Renner continues, “Then there’s the drying process, so that individual will monitor harvest and make sure the herbs are dried down to the right moisture content & documentation.
“Then another team does all the tractors, such as field work, transplanting, fertilization, or anything that requires a tractor.
“Then everybody shares tasks, if we need all hands on deck to harvest, to seed, or to weed a field.”
So, a typical day could be one or a variety of these tasks.
“This year is pretty cool because we’re piloting a captain program, so we’ve identified five individuals who have demonstrated great communication and leadership over the years, and they’ll be in charge of one of these areas.
“I’m really excited about this captain paradigm because it empowers the team and shows them we value their input, communication, and implementation.
I think it opens the door for voices to be amplified for the farm crew that’s been here longer than anybody.”
A Preview Of What’s To Come In This Year’s Growing Season
With over a million herbs to plant, tend, and harvest, plus veggies to grow, infrastructure projects, repairs and maintenance, and team building, a lot is happening on the farm.
When asked what she’s most hoping to accomplish this season, Renner said:
“We’re putting a lot of effort into dialing in our cultivation paradigm. Weeds are always our biggest challenge, so trying to stay ahead of that is something I’m hopeful we’ll start seeing results and be able to navigate this coming season.”
Final Thoughts And Appreciations For The Farm Team
As we wrapped up the interview, we asked Renner what more she wants people to know about the coming growing season and Gaia’s seasonal farmers.
“I think just a tiny nuance is when we say we’re a regenerative organic certified farm (™) (ROC), that social fairness is an equal pillar to soil health, it’s just as important as the soil and the growing of the crops.
“That’s part of the ROC framework, so we just try to amplify that in any way possible, including with our seasonal farmers. We want that movement to grow and awareness to spread because it is lacking in any other certification.”
We hope our efforts to ensure farmworker dignity, well-being, and justice will continue to uplift and energize our farm workers and the entire Gaia team and inspire other farms and supplement companies that source from other farms to do the same.On behalf of the Gaia Herbs team, we welcome back our seasonal workers and wish them a season of happiness, success, and comfort in their new homes away from home.
To Learn More About The Gaia Herbs Farm And Commitment To Social Equality, Check Out the Following:
- The Who and the Why of the Gaia Herbs Farm Worker Housing Project
-
Gaia Herbs Social Impact Page
- Gaia Herbs 2023 Sustainability Report: How We’re Implementing A Sustainable, Transparent, & Regenerative Business Model
- Celebrating B Corp Month: Why Gaia Herbs is Committed to B Corp Certification
- Gaia Herbs' Vegetable Program: Free Vegetables All Season Long for Our Employees and Community
