From farmhand to farm owner

A nice story about a farm that is now owned by a migrant worker who worked there for many years. This is happening all over the country, many Latino workers are buying the land from retiring farmers. DP

By Marc Ramirez, Seattle Times staff reporter

The Seattle Times: Not a day goes by that Javier Lopez isn't thankful to have Tom Reinhardt by his side. With late afternoon here, it's time to check on the livestock, and the two head past the workshop where they store tractors and can peaches and into the rolling wedge of pasture that is their backyard.

"¿Estan las vacas acá o allá?" Lopez asks. Are the cows over this way or over that way?

"Creo que estan allá," Reinhardt answers. I believe they're over there.

Over nearly two decades, Lopez, 43, and Reinhardt, 59, have taught each other their native tongues and become the best of friends and neighbors. From Reinhardt, the aspiring Lopez learned a career; in return he gave his mentor, a lifelong bachelor with no kids of his own, a family to feel part of.

"He gave me the opportunity," Lopez says, "to do what I'm doing now."

When the amiable, pragmatic Reinhardt wanted someone to take over the operation he'd struggled to keep alive, he turned to Lopez, his business partner of nearly 10 years — and his one-time foreman and former field hand. Now Lopez owns the 20-acre farm operation, growing organic rhubarb and raspberries on leased land a mile east of Interstate 5 in Nisqually.

Stories like theirs are playing out again and again nationwide, even as small farms struggle and debate rages over who and how many should be entitled to the American Dream.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.