Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Garcia-Prats.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
In 2014, alongside two of my brothers, Tommy and Mark, we launched Small Places dedicated to utilizing farming as a tool to improve community health and empower neighborhoods to establish the resources it needs to create a happy, healthy, and resilient place to live. Over three years, we transformed a 1.5-acre vacant lot into our first community farm, Finca Tres Robles, focused on serving the Second Ward and East End neighborhoods where it is located to bring high quality, fresh produce to this amazing community through a bi-weekly onsite Farm Stand.
The farm is designed as a resource for the neighborhood and we have dedicated our time to building strong relationships with community members and organizations. Community Health is about more than food and we utilize the farm to provide more health food services to community through hands-on classes, arts & cultural events, field trips, and more. Through the farm, we are bringing the community together to help build a stronger, healthier, and more resilient community.
We began growing a few moringa trees, which Tommy had encountered while farming in Nicaragua, for the fresh leaves, the benefits it brings to the soil, and to utilize these tall trees as shade for our crops during the summer. Not long after, members in our community began coming by the farm specifically for our moringa.
As we grew more moringa trees and began processing our leaves into powder, the interest from our customers expanded significantly, corresponding with awareness of moringa nationally. We saw this as an opportunity to bring our high-quality, locally grown moringa to more people across the Houston area and beyond and further our mission to impact health through agriculture.
Around that time, we also came to meet Connor Davis, another Houstonian and young entrepreneur, through an event at the farm. We developed a great relationship with Connor and the opportunity arose for us partner together to form a new moringa venture.
With Connor, Tommy, and Mark we launched Base 3 Farms specifically focused on the production of moringa and moringa powder. In 2021 we began leasing land from a fellow farmer down in Lake Jackson and began cultivating moringa trees for Base 3 Farms. We just expanded our operation to several more acres and continue to build our brand and business to support health through food.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I like to joke that farming is like every other business – you have to manage production, marketing, distribution, logistics, finances, customer service – PLUS you have to deal with Mother Nature.
We launched our moringa farm in early 2021 on 2 acres we were leasing from a local farmer friend, David Cater, who owns and runs Utility Research Garden and currently specializes in bamboo production. We had spent several months prepped our fields and planted out well over 2000 new moringa trees, many of which had grown from seed to over 6ft. The trees had become mature enough to begin harvesting regularly and we’d been able to harvest several hundred pounds of fresh leaves to be dried and processed into powder.
We then encountered the 2nd wettest May and June on record with rain on 19 of the 23 days between May 11th and June 3rd totaling almost 14 inches of rain. Huge segments of our trees sat in water for days and days because the ground just did not dry out with rain after rain.
The joys culminated in the arrival of Hurricane Nicholas which whipped through with strong winds that blew over a significant number of our trees. Once all was said and done, we had lost approximately 1000 moringa trees which, at the time, was a little less than half of our production.
It created a large production shortfall that was compounded by the additional resources required to then restart those lost portions of the farm. We’ve been fortunate to grind our way through and have now expanded our production space even further this year.
Agriculture constantly challenges you in ways that require resilience. The extreme weather that is brought on by climate change is increasing the “opportunities” to practice resilience for so many farmers. Last year’s wet summer has turned into droughts all over Texas this year. It is so important to constantly support your local farmers because growing food in the Houston area presents numerous challenges and you are an important piece of maintaining an ecosystem of local farms.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Base 3 Farms?
Base 3 Farms is a Public Benefit company that cultivates the moringa tree at our farm located just outside Houston. We harvest the fresh moringa leaves which dry and process into moringa powder, a versatile and nutrient dense superfood that you can easily incorporate into any number of foods and daily routines.
Moringa is one of the most nutritious vegetables in the world with nutrients that are beneficial and necessary to keeping your body healthy and happy. While it is not a replacement for a healthy diet and good habits, moringa can be a great addition to support you and your body by helping to provide things you may not currently be getting in your diet.
Base 3 Farms is proud to be one of the very who are growing moringa commercially in the United States. Our Texas grown moringa is of the highest quality and we are proud farmers who believe that health is built from the ground up
Moringa provides several health benefits which include caffeine-free energy, boosting your immune system, preventing inflammation, improving digestion, improving heart health, strengthening bones, and lowering blood sugar.
Moringa is a “nutritional ingredient” that can be used in a number of ways to bulk up the nutrients of whatever you eat: blend it with your smoothie; stir into your yogurt; shake into your shake; splash into your dressing; sprinkle on your snacks; mix into your baked treats;. We want people to find their personal way to easily incorporate moringa into their routine.
As farmers, we take seriously the responsibility to protect and care for our environment. We follow organic practices and do not use any chemicals or pesticides. Our pouches are 100% compostable to ensure we are not leaving behind waste in our packaging. Moringa also absorbs 20x more carbon than other trees, making it a truly amazing tree for our environment.
We invite everyone to get engaged with growing through moringa and include a pack of moringa seeds for you to start your own tree. We want everyone to join us in caring for our environment and we invite you to grow with us!
Our goal is to have moringa powder in every kitchen and a moringa tree in every yard and we hope you’ll be a part of it.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people are surprised to lean that my background is in engineering and don’t really see the connection between that and agriculture. However, I utilize my engineering on a regular basis to develop a well run and operated farms. Unfortunately, too few of us can see how agriculture to fit into our passions and skillsets.
One of the things that has excited me most about my work in urban agriculture is the incredible opportunities for people to engage with agriculture who otherwise would not. I think it’s a space that has so much potential for innovation and development and, if fostered and supported, can have tremendous impacts on improving health and increasing economic opportunities in communities throughout the area.
In many ways, Base 3 Farms is the result of that collision. My personal engagement with agriculture was only made possible through urban farming and our business partner and cofounder Connor met us through the urban farm. Now together, we have launched a new example of the opportunities we continue to see within local, sustainable agriculture.
Moringa is also a unique tool for us to further our work to improve health, the environment, and provide quality food through agriculture. The moringa tree is an incredible grower that not only improves the soil in which it grows, but also can absorb 20 times more carbon than other trees.
There is something for everyone in agriculture and we want to invite everyone to find their way to engage in and support it. Our website orders always include a pack of our moringa seeds for people to start their own moringa trees. It’s important to connect with growing your food and we invite everyone to grow with us!
Pricing:
- Ecommerce: Compostable Pouches – Small (2 oz., $19); Large (8 oz., $59)
- Cultivate Subscription: Compostable Pouch + Ceramic Jar – Monthly (30 days) or Quarterly (90 days) Delivery Options (20% off with Subscription)
- Farmers Markets: Rice Village Farmers Market (1st & 3rd Sundays), Heights Mercantile Farmers Market (2nd and 4th Sundays)
- Find us in Houston: Henderson & Kane, Kickin’ Kombucha, Mala Market, Little Red Box Grocer
Contact Info:
- Website: www.base3farms.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/base3farms
- Facebook: facebook.com/base3farms
