Jose Constantino was just 9 years old when he started his new life in the U.S. – and when he decided what he would do with it.
“I’ve always wanted to be a farmer,” he said.
Jose’s family lived on a farm when they first immigrated from Mexico. As kids, he and his brother Salvador loved helping the farmer and learning everything they could. Jose worked on several different farms across South Jersey before taking a break to become a truck driver. But the great outdoors, hard work, and satisfaction of growing fresh, nutritious food called him back to where he belongs.
“I enjoy the freedom. I enjoy the sun and being outside,” Jose reflected.
He and his brother returned to farming together in the sprawling fields of a 70-acre property. When the farmer passed away about six years ago, Jose and Salvador purchased the land, and J&S Brothers Farms was born. Today, the business is a family affair. Jose and Salvador’s two sisters supervise the harvest, while their nephews drive the tractors.
“When it’s family out here, you know they’re backing you up. They’re looking out for you,” Jose said.
J&S Brothers grows everything from seedless watermelons and cantaloupes to jalapenos and pickles. And critical to the farm’s success is the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA), a statewide, USDA-funded program that CFBNJ administers. The FoodBank uses LFPA funds from the NJDA to buy food from socially disadvantaged farmers and producers for distribution in underserved communities in all 21 New Jersey counties.
Because of LFPA, J&S Brothers planted twice as many crops this year to help both CFBNJ and Food Bank of South Jersey provide even more fresh produce to struggling neighbors.
“LFPA is a great way to get the product out there to people who need it,” Jose said.
Being both Latino-owned and a relatively new name in the industry, J&S Brothers is among the socially disadvantaged farms that LFPA seeks to support. Jose and Salvador have worked hard to build their reputation and show that they can provide high quality fruits and vegetables.
“It gives us an opportunity to level the playing field a little bit because, at the end of the day, it is harder for disadvantaged farmers,” Jose told us.
Jose and Salvador hope that LFPA will continue far into the future. The program has supported their business by helping them pay the bills and get fair prices for their products.
“The LFPA program might be one of the reasons that we’re still farming this year. When stuff goes for far below the prices we need to get, the FoodBank helps us out by giving us reasonable prices,” Jose shared. “It’s definitely made a difference.”
