Cultivating Financial Capability: How Refugee Farmers Build Economic Resilience through Community Agriculture

Background and Purpose: Refugee families resettled in the United States face persistent structural barriers to economic self-sufficiency, food access, and mental health. Community-based farming programs like New Roots offer innovative support pathways to foster financial capability. New Roots is a four-year farmer training program that aims to incubate farmers from refugee/immigrant background by providing systematic farming and business skills education. Using Sherraden's (2013) financial capability framework—defined as the ability and opportunity to act in one's best financial interest—this study explores how refugee participants develop financial capability through New Roots participation.

Method: The research team conducted 10 semi-structured interviews with farmers from five countries and three continents (with translators), interviewed three staff members, and held one staff focus group. Researchers employed thematic analysis with structure, open, and in vivo coding strategies. Program organizers participated as co-producers of knowledge to integrate insider perspectives.

Results: Drawing on in-depth interviews, this study identified key themes that highlight the role of urban farming in promoting financial resilience and household finance. The findings underscore how participants actively used New Roots as a strategy for economic survival and cultural continuity in the face of limited formal employment and social safety net support.

One prominent theme was building financial knowledge and behavior through New Roots. Participants gained foundational financial knowledge (e.g., budgeting, saving, record-keeping, and business planning) from classes and interactions with customers. One participant shared, “They told us to keep records... if you don’t have savings, you just spend,” highlighting how education shifted behaviors around planning and spending. Farmers developed systematic approaches to track spending, compare investments with profits, and “put aside” a percentage of farming income for future needs, helping them avoid high-risk decisions while developing longer-term financial goals, such as starting their own business, buying farmland, or supporting family abroad.

Secondly, farmers reported that they have higher financial access. New Roots provided tangible support for opening bank accounts, navigating the U.S. financial system, and applying for agricultural loans and USDA programs, reflecting increased opportunity to engage with formal financial structures. As one farmer explained, “I’m trying to get help from staff... to do a separate bank account for business so I can be clear-minded.”

Also, we found that farmers are applying their knowledge within household finances, covering bills and planning budgets with the supplemental income (e.g., “not buy more stuff,” or “cover some bills”). Farmers described how growing their own vegetables allowed them to reduce dependence on grocery purchases and enabling limited financial resources to stretch further, especially among larger refugee families, demonstrating how community agriculture can serve as an informal financial safety net.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings highlight how community-led agricultural programs intersect with key dimensions of social work practice, including economic justice, food sovereignty, and community empowerment. The study emphasizes the need for social workers, policy advocates, and resettlement agencies to recognize and support community-based, culturally grounded models of economic participation and wellbeing in refugee communities to foster refugee financial capability.