Justin Todman teaches participants of the 20th annual Bordeaux Farmers Rastafari Agricultural and Cultural Vegan Food Fair on St. Thomas how to make straw brooms. The art is a dying tradition, said the United States Virgin Islands resident. Photo: NGOVOU GYANG

You might say there was a natural mystic blowing during the 20th Annual Bordeaux Farmers Rastafari Agricultural and Cultural Vegan Food Fair held over the weekend in St. Thomas.

Justin Todman teaches participants of the 20th annual Bordeaux Farmers Rastafari Agricultural and Cultural Vegan Food Fair on St. Thomas how to make straw brooms. The art is a dying tradition, said the United States Virgin Islands resident. Photo: NGOVOU GYANG
Reggae music blared from large speakers as a crowd of mostly Rastafarians made their way from tent to tent perusing arts and crafts made in St. Thomas, as well as farm produce and vegan meals.

The fair was designed to promote agriculture in the greater Virgin Islands, said Eldridge Thomas, president of We Grow Food Inc., a farmers group that has organised the event for 20 years.

“We as a people always like a party, but ours is with an emphasis on agriculture,” said Mr. Thomas, who has family roots on Tortola. “Our main objective is to of course grow and preserve ourselves agriculturally, and to preserve this industry.”

The event attracts not only residents of the USVI, but also people from across the water, the farmer said.

One such participant was wooden-jewellery maker Algernon Auguiste of Tortola, who has attended the fair regularly for nine years.

“There’s nothing like this,” Mr. Auguiste said. “This is like a Rastafarian culture, where all the Rastas can come and show off their crafts, songs, food and cooking styles — name it.”

This territory could be well served by such events, Mr. Auguiste said.

“This is what we’ve been lacking for a lot of years,” he said. “It could boost our economy and help our younger ones to get into craft; learn about natural food and way of life.”

Ramon Robles, a Tortola resident, agreed.

“I love the atmosphere and I like that there’s a lot of produce coming from the farmers around here,” the businessman said while standing in front of a line to purchase a vegan meal. “It would be nice to have something like this on Tortola. But as you know, agriculture is something that a lot of the islands need to start looking into because most of our food is imported.”

Self sufficiency?

But having the two territories be completely food sufficient may not be easy, Mr. Thomas explained.

“I came from an agricultural family on both my mother’s and father’s side,” Mr. Thomas said as he drank from a coconut.

Farming demands dedication, he explained.

“I’m sure farmers on Tortola face the same issues we have,” he said. “I don’t know their challenges intimately, but I just know us as Caribbean people, this isn’t an industry we have a lot of enthusiasm about. Agriculture is quite difficult. It has a lot of challenges, but there’s a lot of reward in the end.”

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