Our Mission

Mi Oh My Hydroponic Farms is a worker-owned hydroponic farm and educational organization with a mission to improve food access for the food insecure, while also providing opportunities for BIPOC communities to build generational wealth using Cooperative Economics and Just Transition principles, a vision-led, unifying and place-based set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power. We exist to be a model of the new economy!

We envision a renaissance in organic and healthy food alternatives that are grown locally, powering a local economy that can provide alternative means of buying food and earning an income. Supporting worker cooperatives means you are saying no to the exploitation of labor and yes to the empowerment of workers.
Our farms are located in food insecure communities, offering us an important connection to the communities we want to serve.

Mi Oh My Farms in the News

CBS 2's Elijah Westbrook did a report on our microgreens and mushrooms indoor farm in the Bronx.

BronXChange featured Mi Oh My Farms founder, Joél Mejia
 

Our Story

Mi Oh My Hydroponic Farms is a worker-owned cooperative, founded in the summer of 2020 when Bronx resident, Joél Mejia, and several other Bronx residents set out to answer the need for access to healthy food in their community, using the innovative, earth-friendly agricultural practice of hydroponics. The “Mi” in our organization's name comes from Microgreens and the “My” comes from Mycelium, both powerhouse superfoods.  Joél, an educator and social activist with a BA in Economics, was also inspired by cooperative economics as a path to resolving this issue, as well as transforming our economy into one that sustains and benefits the environment and community, rather than exploiting and extracting from them. Numerous information sessions have been held to educate people about becoming a worker-owner and cooperative economics in general, and after successfully vending at a new farmer’s market in the north Bronx area, a number of candidates trained to become worker-owners and spread the benefits of our products. 

We served over 100 customers that first summer, many of whom were first-time microgreens consumers, with many coming back week after week to purchase their weekly dose. Since then, we have launched the Bronx’s first microgreens and mushrooms farm share with the objective of increasing awareness, access, and consumption of these unique superfoods in the local community. With the aid of grant funds and support from cooperatives, we are also building and developing hydropnic S.T.E.A.M. curriculums in public schools which engage students in the building and maintenance of hydroponic systems.

As we continue to create mutually beneficial partnerships with our neighbors, such as collecting coffee grounds from a local cafe for use in mushroom cultivation, thereby reducing waste, sharing our surplus microgreens in community fridges, little by little we make progress towards our goals. Our 3 week Home Hydroponics Master Course provides the materials for individuals and families to grow microgreens at home. We also continue to hold information sessions where we can share what we have learned about cooperative economics, which many studies prove is the single most viable way to improve our financial situation.

Our worker cooperative is operated by a diverse set of individuals with skills and passions that synchronize with the vision of the organization. As a worker-owned, democratically controlled business, we are able to prioritize what is best for our members and our community. We believe socially responsible, sustainable food production has the power to influence us on a nutritional, environmental and economic level. By connecting with our neighbors at markets and other events, we will continue to grow our curriculum, the home hydroponics workshops and our farm shares for individuals and local businesses to make our vision a reality.