Salvatierra Farm
Scaling a perennial poultry system
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Iroquois Valley partnered with Reginaldo (Regi) and Amy Haslett-Marroquin to finance the purchase of 75 acres in Rice County, Minnesota. Salvatierra Farm will be Regi's home base, where he will demonstrate and practice the agroforestry-based regenerative poultry production system he has helped countless farmers establish. Once the farm’s poultry infrastructure is in place, the farm will join a growing BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color)-led regional regenerative farming enterprises network. The farm is named for Regi's mother, whose last name is Salvatierra, which means "save the earth."
Amy is particularly excited about growing medicinal herbs and flowers for market. She says, "we have shared this farm dream and now I can see my part of the dream expressed -- don't get me wrong, I love the chickens, but I am happiest in the flower and medicine garden.” Amy and Regi's third son, Lars, is also looking forward to being on the land. At 17, he has been immersed in this system for raising poultry his entire life. When he finishes school, he plans to join the farm full time, sharing "I have loved farming forever. I want to be part of a different world and I am committed to changing it."
The land will serve as an anchor farm where Regi will continue his regenerative poultry production work firsthand, doing research and developing partnerships to scale this system across the region. He explains, “I have attempted to gain access to land to build my family farm four times in the last 20 years; every time something pushed the dream away. I spent the last decade building system-level infrastructure and just in the last two years, other farmers joined our regional collective. We have finally built sufficient capacity to support farm operations, so we looked to access land again and here we are."
Regi has spent his career working with agricultural communities, including immigrants, new farmers, small farmers, and established farmers. Regi has degrees in agronomy and business management, making him uniquely positioned to advise farmers on their journey toward successful and wildly regenerative farming operations.
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Building a farm to call home “will allow me to move into the last stage of my own life’s journey as a new immigrant who aspired to farm in this country but did not want to go at it alone. My farm can now be part of a system designed to aggregate our individual operations and build an interdependent system with other established farmers, but especially other BIPOC community members who identify with my own situation and want to work collectively.” -- Regi
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Traditional ecological knowledge & a regenerative economy |
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Regi developed this system with versatility and evolution in mind. It plays to chickens' natural tendencies and strengths as a species that evolved as jungle fowl. Chickens are an important part of diets around the world, which is key to the system's relevance. Up to 4,500 broilers can be raised in 1.5 acres and only 14 acres are needed to produce 2 million eggs in one year in this system, all while supporting reforestation, soil regeneration, efficient carbon sequestration, and water purification. The minimal land needed for the system makes it ideal for smallholder farmers.
The system can be implemented anywhere because it is composed of a few essential elements: native perennials, annual crops, and poultry. Native perennials support the given region's ecosystems, while annuals support crop diversity and market flexibility. Poultry allows the farm to cash flow even in the first season. Adapted to Minnesota, the native perennials include red & white oaks, honeylocusts, and basswoods alternating to form an overstory while hazelnuts & elderberries form an understory.
Regi designs processes rather than fixed blueprints to weigh the economic, environmental, and social potential of implementing the system regardless of location:
- Does it sell & create income?
- Is it native to the ecosystem?
- Is it widely accepted by the community?
Each crop runs through this process. For example, farmers who use this system in northern Guatemala plant bananas, yucca, yams, and many other shrub and tree species that enhance productivity, fit local market demand, provide food security, and support the native ecosystem while balancing out the incorporation of imported species. While this is an agro-ecological system, it is also an economic system that prioritizes cooperatives, knowledge sharing, integration across stacked enterprises, and farmer profitability. This ensures farmer and stakeholder governance at every level of the supply chain. Individual operations are de-risked by pooling resources, and marketing products collectively by aggregating under a common brand, Tree-Range® Chicken.
Working collectively emphasizes abundance, rather than scarcity, which can be prevalent when small farmers are isolated and compete against each other. Regi believes that collective action built on reciprocity is key to our well-being on this planet.
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Chicken coops at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, SD, where the system has been implemented. |
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"We can exponentially increase our wealth when we move within an abundance mindset" -- Regi
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Regi finds that we can be so focused on "producing" things on the farm that we narrow our perspective and forget there is an abundance of readily and freely available energy at our disposal. "There is no scarcity of energy on our planet: we have enough sunlight, carbon (in fact, too much of it right now), and soil microbes to transform energy. We have so many other resources that do not require capital or labor: as long as we are willing and able to wait, make some up-front investments and sacrifices, we can benefit from nature’s abundance-based operating systems. This requires that we center first on our spiritual connection to the land and all living things. With a spiritually-centered understanding of living systems, the ecosystem can deliver economic, social and ecological outcomes." Regi offers wisdom on this topic in an interview with Green Dreamer -- listen here.
Regi’s work has already benefited hundreds of smallholder farmers who have adapted and implemented this system throughout the Americas, including at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In partnership with the Food Sovereignty Initiative, this work extends internationally to Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and British Columbia.
The land we financed offers Regi the opportunity to engage at farm-level scale, contribute to a regional collective system, and "become accountable to a place." This means working from an indigenous perspective: observing and working with the land to make a living while weaving all aspects of ancestral knowledge and wisdom into operations. As a result, the farm becomes resilient and adaptable to a changing market and climate.
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CONNECTING FARM FAMILIES, COMMUNITIES, AND INVESTORS SINCE 2007
As a corporate guideline, we do not look for specific farmland to purchase or finance. We develop relationships with farmers, mostly young and organic, who want to grow their farm business. We move forward when we have a ready, willing and able farmer.
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Iroquois Valley Farmland REIT | Public Benefit Corporation
Certified B Corporation | Est. 2007
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