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If the thought of managing a single farm makes you sweat, then consider managing and owning four different farms.

And while you’re at it, think about the fact that you are also doing much of the labour-intensive work as well.

This has been Nadine Harvey’s way of life for 20 years, and this powerhouse of a woman has no intention of slowing down.

“Farming is a great job and I’m very happy to be a farmer. This is my backbone. This is what helps me to make money, and to make me very independent. I don’t have to wait on anyone to do anything; I’m very proud to be a farmer,” she told THE STAR. “I do everything on my farm. I use the machete, I use the fork, I weed; I do everything,”

Her journey as a farmer started when she decided to quit her job as a domestic helper because she wasn’t making enough money.

“It didn’t make any sense ... because the little money is like fare. So what I started to do was that I would do little backyard farming, and from there I realised that I could make money. So I decided to do it bigger,” she said.

And it was a decision she does not regret. On her four plots of land in St Ann, she plants a variety of produce, including sweet pepper, pumpkin, cabbage, Irish potato and plantains.

Her main market are higglers that sell in the Coronation Market in downtown Kingston, but Harvey said she sometimes vends her own produce.

“I sell to vendors, and also go to Coronation Market sometimes and sell for myself. I also sell in Linstead sometimes; I am in St Ann’s Bay; and I go Brown’s Town a few times. Any weh mi go mi have something a drive round inna di vehicle wid and mi scale,” she said. “When I go out and they ask me what kind of work you do and I say I’m a farmer, I’m self-employed, they are like ‘wow’, she said

Community Contribution

And in addition to providing the income for her to take care of her two children, the 41-year-old single mother told THE STAR that farming also gives her an opportunity to contribute to her community.

“I have four permanent workers, both male and female, from the community. I also hire seasonal workers from the community, and during Irish potato times, I maybe get like 10 persons to help with the farrowing and molding, because I really need that kind of help,” she said

But operating a farm as big as Harvey’s has its challenges.

“Sometime the water problem is really challenging. I have a plot of land where we have river and pump there, so it’s not so bad. But at the other plots, we have to carry water if there is no rain. We have containers that can get water when rain fall and store water, but when it’s the drought, it’s difficult,” she said. “Sometime you mek a money, sometimes you lose yuh money. So sometimes you just have to kinda cut down.”

But the gains that she enjoys far outweigh the difficulties, and that’s why Harvey wants to see more women share in her passion.

“I’m very passionate about farming, it’s not just about income. I have to eat food, everybody has to eat food,” she said. “And when I have my produce, if I don’t even have the money like that to get like meat and all a dat, mi can turn mi hand and do mi likkle ting. And I also can give to somebody who’s in need, too, and I feel good.”

She added, “We as women, we are very serious and interested in what we are doing. I think we are better than the men, we just dweet good and done. But women sometimes run from this thing because they say it is hard, but it’s what you really love.”