Intergrow Greenhouse, Fillmore NY

The 15-acre Intergrow facility was constructed in 1998 to grow vegetables year-round on the model of Dutch greenhouses, soon focusing upon tomatoes as its most commercially viable crop. The operation was sited in Fillmore, NY for its proximity to the coal-fired Allegany Power Plant. and employed primarily Spanish-speaking migrant workers.

The Geneseo Migrant Center (GMC) began outreach to Intergrow workers by 2001 and soon recognized that their agricultural "world" was in some ways quite different from field workers at traditional farms. In order for staff and artists to better communicate, GMC Director Sylvia Kelly visited the Intergrow greenhouse and learned some of its distinct vocabulary: "pallet jacks" (gato de paleta) and "string line" (cuerda de linea). See her notes here.

The photographs shown above were taken to create flashcards corresponding to some of Intergrow's daily work:

1. Tomato plants attached to wires (cable/alambre)
2. Tomatoes growing in a cart (carro) in clusters (racimos)
3. A scraper, wrapped around worker's finger
4. Stickers (etiquetas)
5. Stacks of boxes (cajas)
6. A pallet jack (gato de paleta)
7. A bee box
8. Bags (volsas)
9. Forklift (montecargas)
10. A topworker on a picker's cart

Work Consulted: Mary Stone, "Made in the FLX: Intergrow Greenhouses Grows and Grows," Edible Finger Lakes 30 Mar. 2021. Link here

Kelly, Sylvia?

Photographs

All are 4 x 5 in.