‘Farmer Kaye’ finds cash and comfort in tilling the soil

At the onset of the pandemic, Latoya Rattray-Ellis faced uncertainty after losing her job as a public relations and communications manager.

She hurriedly tried to secure alternative income, but several attempts failed. However, it may have been fate that led her to expand her passion for backyard farming into a commercialised business. Having grown up in the quaint community of Victoria in Clarendon, farming was the culture that formed part of her childhood. Her mother, Jacqueline Lindsay-Stone, sold produce in the May Pen Market during the week, preparing her load from as early as 5 a.m. But, for Rattray-Ellis, who wanted to be a journalist and politician, farming "was never on my radar".

"My mother wanted me to be 'better than her'. She didn't have a regular job that we aspired to, so she wanted better for us. Agriculture was just not that thing. And I believe it was how they viewed agriculture. It's dirty, yuh nuh dress up ... so that wasn't something she wanted for me and it wasn't something I wanted for myself," the mother of two explained.

'Farmer Kaye Rattray', as she calls herself, sows corn, sweet potato, yam and peppers. Having been in the field officially for just two years, she has already sold over 100 dozen sweet corn to a Corporate Area supermarket. She grinned as she related the first time she worked on a farm in Peace River, Clarendon. The first week wasn't bad, but the following one, she had to carry around yam head. Rattray-Ellis had to borrow a donkey to do so, and whoever padded the donkey did not do it properly.

"So, when we going around, my sister had full charge of the donkey and the donkey pad drop off and all the yam head drop and scatter out. I had to take up some of the yam head, put it in a bag and on my head. My sister had to carry some on her head. You see when I hep' [take] down the yam off my head? my head felt very big, like it was swelling. And my hands felt so stiff and right in my butt cheek felt so sore," Rattray-Ellis related, in between laughter.

Farming helps her to secure her financial independence but she also enjoys the therapeutic sessions it allows. Her sister Daneshia Stone oversees her yam field in Clarendon, one of several plots she farms, during the week while she does her desk job at the Women's Centre Foundation. With a cautious eye, Rattray-Ellis moves in between the rows of corn, breaking their covers to inspect the kernels. Rattray-Ellis also speaks to her plants, offering words of affirmation.

While explaining that farming brings unexplainable joy, the 33-year-old has to battle pests such as moths, the corn earworm and beet army worm.

Rattray-Ellis, who employs 10 men on the farm, is now seeking to do onion production and poultry rearing. The Newport-Fersan ambassador, who is also a member of the Jamaica Network Rural Women Producers, encourages other women to till the soil.

"Speak with an agronomist or your RADA [Rural Agricultural Development Authority] extension officer. Invest that money into farming, it's worth the risk. But do it with the expert's advice, so you do not guess and spell. You will live to see the reward. It provides more and it will give you the peace that I don't think nothing else can," she said.