Faces of Massachusetts Agriculture

Visoth Kim and Nil Por

Mr. Visoth Kim (AKA Chea Kim) was born in 1948 in the rural Cambodian province of Takeo. Mr. Kim's father was a city clerk and his mother a homemaker, and they were also farmers. They saved enough to send Kim to schools. After he graduated from college, Kim was a teacher until the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia in 1975. Prior to the Khmer Rouge occupation, Kim helped his parents around the farm and saw farming as a stepping stone to enrich his family's life.

In the United States, Kim is again using his agrarian skills and is pursuing his dream of farming. He would like to own six or seven acres of farmland in Dracut or a nearby town and establish a Cambodian Farming Center to experiment with and educate young people about growing Cambodian crops.

Mr. Nil Por was born in 1927 in the rural province of Battambang, Cambodia. He joined the French Commandos and later became Chief of the Khmer Commandos. After military service, Por returned to his parent's farm to help. Although he was committed to farming full time, he was never able to achieve this because of the Khmer Rouge occupation.

After arriving in the United States, Por settled in Methuen and participated in the USDA New Entry Sustainable Farming Project, leasing farmland in Dracut. When asked why he wants to farm, Por replies that he has a passion for farming, it reminds him of his farm in Cambodia and he is preserving his family's farming heritage.