FOR Shauna Vernon, farming is more than a means of earning a living but a passion which she developed as a child helping her grandmother to plant various produce on the family farm.

“Mi use to help mi grandmother with her yam and from dem time de mi just love farming,” she said.

Today, she not only engages in traditional farming but is also involved in greenhouse technology to grow a variety of produce such as pak choi, peas, Irish potatoes, cucumbers, and corns, among others.

“I just love farming,” the very energetic St Ann farmer told the Jamaica Observer North East, during a recent visit to one of her greenhouses in Burnt Ground near Alexandria in St Ann.

Being a female is in no way a disadvantage for this hard-working farmer.

“Anything the man do, me can do it,” Vernon said.

Vernon, who has made farming her sole means of income for the last decade, said she is very proud of what she does.

Having worked as a domestic helper, Vernon said she did not love the job and so turned to her true passion 10 years ago.

Farming, she said, has not only helped her to be able to care for her family, but also to supply good-quality produce to householders in the parish.

The 40-year-old said she would encourage persons who are unemployed to consider going into farming. And while the financial gain may not always be what is anticipated, Vernon said it also helps in decreasing the shopping cost.

“Mi would encourage people to do farming because you don’t have to buy everything,” she said.

But while farming is a great option, Vernon said it also has its challenges.

“It’s a gamble, is a gain and lose,” she said.

She explained that sometimes farmers do not reap what they initially projected.

“Sometimes you buy the seeds and dem no good or the plants catch some disease,” she said.

The selling of the produce is often the most difficult part of the job, according to Vernon, who further explained that sometimes the money made from the sales of some crops does not cover expenditure on the farm.

“Sometime it no really work out,” Vernon said.

As with anything else, she noted, there is always a challenge but Vernon does not plan to give up farming anytime soon.

Although suffering allergies from some of the crops she plants, such as corn and cucumbers, she intends to continue to make farming her source of income.

Vernon presently supplies market vendors as well as households in her community.