Mabton, Washington
Don Hilario Alvarez and his family are living examples of what can be achieved with determination and hard work. Originally from the coastal region of the Mexican state of Michoacán, Hilario Alvarez immigrated in the early 1970s, first to southern California, and then to eastern Washington, where he worked for seven years on a farm in Wapato.
He learned everything he could about farming from the owners of the farms where he worked, and finally, in 1981 he rented thirty acres and started farming on his own during his “free time.” He started out with very little money and no tractor, and picked up the knowledge he was still lacking by trial and error.
But thanks to his hard work, his determination, his willingness to experiment and his ability to learn from experience, today Don Hilario and his family own 120 acres, making his farm one of the largest organic vegetable farms in eastern Washington.
