Roberto le Fort grew up on a small family farm in Chile with his grandmother, where he developed a lifelong love of farming. In college, he earned his Agricultural Technology degree and began work in a program that emphasized farmer-to-farmer mentorship. “This was a beautiful experience for me,” le Fort says. “Of course you come out of college with some experience, but as soon as you start work on a real farm, things are immediately different.” He relied heavily on the experience of his mentors and soon gained much practical experience. “It was like going back to school again,” he chuckles.
By the late 1980s, le Fort had started working for a large agricultural supply company. “They paid me well,” he says, “but I wasn’t very happy. I had several conversations with my boss.” In one instance, le Fort went to a wheat farm for an evaluation and saw the crop had problems with fungus (Septoria tritici) and aphids. His company was pushing him to recommend an expensive synthetic product, but le Fort knew a cheaper and more natural solution could be found instead.
“Pesticides damage the planet,” he says. “They kill everything. Wild bees, all the insects and wildlife around. They are pretty bad for the environment.” Even though at that time, the organic approach wasn’t widely understood or widespread, “I already had my belief about the environment,” le Fort says.
In 1997, le Fort was able to purchase the land for a farm. “It started as an empty lot with a barn,” he says. “It wasn’t a farm yet. But I got CCOF certification. I started being organic from the beginning.”
The biggest problem with the land was the quality of the soil. So le Fort began to work on enriching the soil through organic techniques, bit by bit. “I still work on it. I work on it every year,” he says. Through a combination of cover crops, manure, compost, and wood chips, little by little, the soil improved to the point where now le Fort runs a successful farm growing apples, tomatoes, basil, squash, kale, and much more.
Inspired by the mentorship he once received, le Fort now mentors other up-and-coming organic farmers through the Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP). This nationwide initiative provides support to both transitioning and existing organic producers across six geographic regions of the U.S. (CCOF leads the West/Southwest region, where le Fort farms.)
“What a wonderful program,” le Fort says of TOPP. “What happened with me, I had my career, but when I started working as a farmer I found myself in a bubble. It took me away from things like books and computers, so this is a wonderful experience. It’s pushed me to go back to my books and refresh my memory, to meet new people. You have to look around, you know. It’s been beautiful for me.”
Using his experience building up his own farm’s soil, le Fort gives his mentees advice on how to do the same. “Organic farming is different than other farming. It’s a little more complicated. You need more knowledge. I gave [mentee] Jorge information on bettering his soil. Like when you put wood chips in the ground, you capture the carbon from the air and put it into the ground. You use less water. It controls the weeds,” le Fort explains. “I hope that soon he’s able to go organic. His land is a beautiful farm.”
Mentoring activities span a range from writing recommendations so mentees can apply for grants, to helping call around to different companies who can offer organic pest control. In one recent instance, le Fort used his expertise to research an affordable sonic option to keep birds off his mentee’s crops. “It can be very expensive,” le Fort says, “so I’m helping him get the right price.”
TOPP offers financial compensation to mentors who give their time to the program. Although le Fort would like to pay forward the help he received as a young farmer, he’s also happy that “on top of everything, I get a little pay.”
“Organic farming today is very important every day, more and more,” le Fort says. “Why? Because our planet is in trouble. As farmers, we’re responsible for much of the pollution of the planet, like when we use huge tractors and equipment, when we use pesticides. But we don’t have to. If you compare working with wood chips to artificial methods, and they’ve done studies on this, in the long term, wood chips come out the winner. You don’t need to sterilize the soil until nothing is there. It’s sad to see something like that.”
There is one more piece of advice le Fort has for his mentees: “When you grow organic products you can sell them for more money. But this organic situation is not only about getting more money. You’re preserving the planet.”
Interested in participating in TOPP mentorship? This program is funded through 2026 by TOPP.
Note: Roberto le Fort would like to extend a special thank-you to all the people, friends, and family who have participated on his farm for years. He extends a special thank you to Dolores Howard, who brings many ideas and much work and time.
