Via Organica is a Civil Association that works for organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade, social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production. It was founded in San Miguel de Allende in 2010 as a sister organization to the U.S.-based Organic Consumers Association. It began with an educational organic garden, a store and a restaurant with local and imported organic products. The focus is on education, information and politics.
Ranch-Shop-Restaurant
Through the store and restaurant we focus on supporting the production and consumption of organic products, mostly local, and we support small producers who grow naturally, which, although not certified, we verify their origin without chemicals or fertilizers through a review with professional certifiers.
We also offer products from our own ranch, which is located halfway to Jalpa, Gto, near the community of El Tigre. The ranch is more than a production vegetable garden, it is an educational space where we test and apply all the techniques we learn for the improvement of the land, the plants, the production and the environment. We have received many groups of students and have trained several young people from the communities (some of them are now part of the team).
We have mixed crops: trees, vegetables, pollinating and aromatic plants that attract and repel insects. We use perennial plants along with rotational crops. In this way we work to have year-round land cover and diverse production with year-round harvests. We produce our own compost and natural fertilizers, bocashi (a superfood fertilizer for the soil); we have free-range chickens and eggs, turkeys and some growing piglets.
The restaurant is located next to the vegetable gardens in the middle of the ranch, and we prepare the dishes using freshly harvested vegetables. We also serve local products such as pulque, mead and craft beer.
We sell seedlings, fertilized soil, natural fertilizers, bocachi and various other garden products.
One Million Agaves Project
For the last two years we have focused our energy on reforestation with agaves and mesquite trees that regenerate the soil. For these semi-arid zones where the soil is very poor and washed out, agaves are our best allies: they occupy little soil and little water while retaining soil, sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and serving as feed for livestock through a new fermented compound of maguey stalks with mesquite pods, which completely supplies the need for animal fodder.
During this summer of abundant rains, we have been reforesting with mezquites with acodos (germination of plants through rooted branches) and we are seeing very good results. WE ARE ALMOST AT OUR GOAL OF 1,000,000 agaves!
Policy
The director of Vía Orgánica participated in a Press Conference in the CDMX for a regenerative, sustainable, equitable, fair and healthy food system in Mexico to confront the deep civilizational crisis that humanity is experiencing. The Panel--The struggle for food sovereignty in the Caribbean and Latin America—was organized by the Boricua Organization of Ecological Agriculture of Puerto Rico CLOC-LVC International and FIAN Colombia on July 27.
We also monitor compliance with the laws banning the use of Glyphosate in our country and the labeling of industrialized foods.
Radio
In San Miguel de Allende we have a weekly radio program every Tuesday from 12:30-1 pm on XHSQ radio that is live on the Facebook page of the same radio station as well as Via Organica. We present programs on health, food and environment and reflect on the model of society that could help us to find solutions to climate change, violence, and social inequity along with various examples of how to create new economies and provide for the welfare for all beings in all our relationships.
If you want to learn, create and continue learning with us, we invite you to visit our pages: viaorganica.org, our Facebook page Via Organica and listen to us on the radio or watch the program on Tuesdays 12:30 -1 pm.
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