Hector moved to New York City from the Dominican Republic in 1996. He started working at farmers markets throughout the city, and soon joined the first round of the New Farmer Development Project, and initiative run by the Greenmarket (now called GrowNYC) and Cornell Cooperative Extension. This project supported immigrant farmers in New York State getting started in agriculture in their new home.

 

Hector founded Conuco Farm in 2002 after a couple season of working at Wengerd Farm in Pennsylvania and attending workshops from the New Farmer Development Project.

 

By the end of the 2002 growing season, he developed a much better understanding of the complexity and challenges that small-scale natural farming can present.