The Farmer – Midwest Urban Farms, LLC

Family Roots run deep

In 1930, my grandfather Roberto Morales Cordero farmed 10 hectares outside the village of Via Flores in Chiapas Mexico for over 40 years.

"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants."

— Isaac Newton, 1675

Grandpa Morales’ farm was decades ahead of the healthy food movement we know today. Without access to modern machines, fertilizers and pesticides, his organic methods of growing were sensible and sustainable. My grandfather respected the land and considered himself a temporary stewart of its well-being. He spent his entire career enriching the local soil-life with simple tools and highly intelligent systems that favored working with nature.

However, like many families in the late twentieth century my father and his siblings sought careers outside of farming. Industrial agriculture consumed the local traditions leaving my grandad with no one to directly pass down his rich farming customs. Predictably, the land was eventually lost in the late 1970’s and with it my grandfather’s love and devotion.

"Let him that would move the world first move himself."

—Socrates, (469 – 399 BC)

Like many youth of my generation I wasn’t raised to be a farmer. Instead, I began my career working for a non-profit right out of high school building homes for hurricane victims and participating in other humanitarian works. Traveling from South and Central America to as far away as Eastern Europe and China, I earned a rich education outside the classroom. More importantly, I learned to serve a vision greater than myself, for the benefit of others.

Over three decades would pass since grandpa sold his land before I would begin to rediscover my long-forgotten heritage. Though I never personally knew grandpa Cordero (he died when I was very young) his affection for the land were to become my inheritance. His example inspired me to reclaim a farming legacy that would seek to honor his memory and sacrifice.