About Us

Hispanic Women’s Farming Proyecto was conceptualized by MaryLou Smith, as a way for her farm west of Windsor to use its land and water to produce high-quality vegetables for local benefit while providing opportunities for immigrant and refugee women to learn about agriculture and business by growing and selling our own vegetables in Northern Colorado.

From 2020 through 2022, four to six women accepted into the program met one full day per week, May through October, to learn by doing - planning our crops, preparing the soil, planting and weeding the crops, and finally harvesting and selling them. Another big part of our education was instructions from CSU volunteer experts and area farmers teaching us about soil and plant health, irrigation, food safety, bookkeeping, marketing, and more. For this, we received an agriculture practitioner certificate of completion and a monetary stipend to support our participation. We also got to share every sale of our crops - in 2022 alone, $26,000!
Click below to see pictures from our first three years.

Based on all we learned in the first three years, the six of us who completed the program in 2022 embarked on five individual projects to teach us how to become entrepreneurs. We continued to meet together for educational sessions and to encourage one another. The Larimer Small Business Development Center presented workshops for us on project management, marketing and accounting. Our founder, MaryLou Smith, continued to provide support, but she said “You women are on your own now; you are on a lit rocket ship!” As in past years, we received funding from various organizations who believe in us and our actions. Funders included Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, Denver Foundation’s Beacon Fund, the Mighty Arrow Foundation, as well as a local women’s group called Small Change.

Latina’s Lead Summit,

Latino Community Foundation of Colorado

Hispanic Women’s Farming Proyecto, Denver December 2023

Colorado Food Summit 2023- Denver