Eric Black transplanting vegetable seedlings on the Santoy Farmers' Cooperative property in Santoy, Hanover.
-Claudia Gardner
Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer
LUCEA, Hanover:
FORTY-YEAR-OLD HANOVER cultivator Eric 'Biggy' Black has been practising farming as a career for the past 10 years.
A member of the Santoy Farmers' Cooperative in the parish since its inception in 1998, Mr. Black became exposed to farming while he was at a very young age, on visits to his father's cane farm.
"I used to help my father with his cultivation back then by tying and carrying the cane which was to be sold," Mr. Black told Farmers Weekly.
But these are even sweeter days for him. "I like farming more than anything else," he said. "I like to work for myself because there is nobody to push you around ... I like to plant and eat my own food."
At present, Mr. Black and other members of the Santoy Farmers' Cooperative are contracted to supply exotic vegetables and fruits such cantaloupe, watermelon, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower to a major supermarket chain and an all-inclusive resort in Negril.
According to Mr. Black, the cooperative's 40-acre property has been fruitful. "Sometimes we have melons weighing up to 18 pounds," he said, but noted that smaller, exotic crops were more profitable.
