Lured by afternoon shade onto a grassy pasture, young chickens step gingerly from wood-frame enclosures, nibbling blades of grass and pecking at outdoor feed stations. Some might consider this a nostalgic glimpse of the past. Yet to a new Latino/Anglo farmers’ co-op based in Northfield, it forms the vision of a vibrant local-foods future.

Hillside Farmers Cooperative aims to build several of these small, free-range chicken operations over the next year, creating the first steps toward a close network of Latino-owned businesses that will provide ownership opportunities and livelihoods for new immigrants. These newcomers arrive with solid experience and an entrepreneurial spirit, says one co-op leader, Regi Haslett-Marroquin. Yet they need land, capital, and supportive social networks to thrive.

Regi has been one of the pioneers forging ahead to bring this vision to life. An agronomist by training, he also holds extensive experience he gained as a youth by farming in his native Guatemala. He has been selecting productive varieties of black beans for 14 years. He started six cooperatives in his native land. Once he arrived in Minnesota, he launched Peace Coffee. Yet he dismisses claims that he is exceptional. “The only difference between me and the average Central American immigrant is that I have a strong network of support around me,” Regi says. Indeed, he recently won “Service to Mankind” awards from both the Northfield area and regional SERTOMA clubs.

Now he applies himself to the poultry trade, working in collaboration with several other neighboring farmers. Poultry, he says, is the first step to building wealth among new immigrants. The relatively quick turn-around from chick to market means that cash-strapped families can earn some income relatively quickly. After a few such cycles, Regi hopes, these families will be in a position to purchase land and develop other, even more diversified, farms nearby.

The chickens produced through Hillside Co-op will be the first free-range product to emerge in the Twin Cities market from Latino farms. Ultimately, Regi hopes, the birds will also be processed in the co-op’s own processing plant.

In these starting years, however, Regi has lined up donations and short-term leases of land from supportive local landowners. He has networked with local economic developers, seeking collaborations and capital. The success of this venture, he says, relies upon the co-op’s ability to organize elements of the mainstream economy-finance, farm inputs, social networks, and land-to support an unconventional outcome: ownership for Latinos. “We are rearranging the existing resources of the community to achieve different results,” Regi adds.

This vision is framed, in part, as a response to the painful irony of the prevailing metro food system, which often depends on low-wage immigrants as a work force to present high-end gourmet options to Twin Cities customers.