Organic Foods in Mexico

Hurricane Etiquette-An Editorial

By Don Lotter *

Demand for organics in Mexico is tiny. 98% of the country’s certified organic production is for export. Although organic herbs, mangos, oranges, field beans, apples, papaya, avocado, soy, bananas, cacao, African palm and pineapple are exported to the US, Germany, Holland, Japan, England and Switzerland, the majority of Mexican consumers do not even know what the term “organic” food means. However, now that Mexico is considered a “second world” country with a growing middle class, sources in the organic sector here say that internal demand will grow. Organic farmers’ markets have been started in several of Mexico’s major cities. One company, Aires de Campo, leads the way packaging and marketing organic products for the Mexican consumer.

Mexico’s organic sector grew at a rate of 45% per year from 1996 to 2000, over twice the rate of the U.S. organic sector. It is still growing, according to Laura Gomez, a researcher at the University of Chapingo. The best estimate of organic production value for the year 2004 was $350 million dollars on a land base of 300,000 hectares, three times that of the 2000 estimate. Organic coffee accounts for 10% of all coffee land planted, the highest percentage of any crop except vanilla. Because of organic coffee’s strong presence in Chiapas and Oaxaca, 50 % of organic production in Mexico handled by a mix of indigenous peoples.

A comprehensive national organic program has been developed in Mexico which complies with the European Union regulation requiring national regulations and certification. There are some 18 organic certification organizations active in Mexico. The Mexican branch of the Organic Crop improvement association (OCIA) out of Nebraska is the top certifier. Others are: Certimex (Mexico), Naturland (Germany), Quality Assurance International (San Diego) and EKO (Netherlands) to name a few.

The largest group that OCIA (Mexico) certifies consists of a cooperative of 1,200 coffee farmers which includes “shade grown” coffee plantations. Farmer groups must be made up of farmers from one contiguous area only and the members must all be shareholders. Individual farmers can’t earn more than $5,000 per year, and participating farmers must sell all of their production via the group. Farmer groups must develop a strong internal organization, with their own inspectors and training sessions in order to remain certified. Incentives for internal control are strong, since if one farmer is found to be out of compliance the whole group can lose its certification for one to three years.

Organic and fair trade coffee has the potential to help more small family farmers than any other crop in the world. The critical factor is whether enough North American and European coffee drinkers decide they want to pay the three or four cents more per cup to make the difference.

* Dan Lotter is a freelance agricultural researcher and journalist based in Davis, California

 

by J. Hyslop

Hurricane “John” has had a profound affect on our tranquil existence. Although most of us put up storm shutters and took other measures to secure our property, none of us was prepared for the physical and emotional terror that ensued during and after that sleepless night of September 2. When we tentatively looked around after the wind had subsided we discovered that our world had totally changed. Casas were a tangle of glass, wood and metal. Communication was severed…electricity, telephones and water services were gone… arroyos had become raging rivers of debris.

After CFE and Telmex workers from the mainland got most of the major communication systems partially on line, Cheryl had BajaPonyExpress up and running. Most of the messages posted by family and friends were sincere expressions of concern and offers of help. However, several postings came from absentee owners which read… “We‘re so glad that everyone is O.K…Oh! By the way, could someone take photos of my property?” and/or, “go over and check on things”. This struck us as extremely naïve and disingenuous. What did these people think we were DOING, for pete’s sake? This was no time to be asking US to take care of an absentee owner’s property! We were TOTALLY busy taking care of our OWN property and helping our neighbors. We realize that many people have chosen East Cape as a part-time winter residence (not everyone can take summer’s heat and humidity). But, summer IS hurricane season, folks. This means that when you leave to go north you need to put protection on your property. AND, if you THINK you’ve done all you can to protect your casa before you leave, when a hurricane as powerful as “John” comes knocking, you need to take the responsibility to hop on a plane ASAP and come down to check on it yourself, as did many of our more enlightened part-time neighbors…

O.K….we’ve gotten that off our chest. Now, let’s talk about Hurricane Etiquette . Here’s a list of the basics that you need to take care of BEFORE you leave for the summer which will help you get the support you may need from your friends and neighbors after a disaster like “John” strikes.
1. Make sure that you buy the strongest set of “hurricane shutters” that money can buy. Metal ones are
best. Leave two small windows open a crack to equalize inside and outside air pressure.
2. Move all your furniture to the center of rooms. Cover it with secured tarps.
3. Install a hidden closet to store valuable paintings, electronics, etc. Put a strong steel door on it with
a combination lock. Keep the combination number with you in a safe place.
4. Turn off all gas appliances, remove all food from freezers and refrigerators (give it to friends and
neighbors). Turn off electricity and water.
5. Do NOT leave a key to your property in a “safe place.“ GIVE a neighbor (or hire someone you
trust) a copy of the key to your casa.. Leave emergency money with them. Exchange telephone
numbers and email addresses so you can both stay in contact.

These basic steps may not prevent your Baja casa from sustaining serious damage in a major hurricane. However, when you DO come down to take charge of your property, you will probably find that the damage has been minimized. AND, you will be helping prevent incidents of theft that can occur when people leave their property unattended and unsupervised.

We are now half-way through the hurricane season of 2006. We know that we could be faced with other serious storms for another month or so. Our eyes are glued to NOAA and BajaInsider reports on a daily basis. Hurricane “Lane”, which produced jitters throughout the entire community a few days after “John“, chose to hug the west coast of MJxico instead of the east coast of the Baja peninsula. “Not again“, we moaned. The reports of “Lane’s” progress across the mainland confirms that if “Lane” had headed for East Cape it would be a crushing blow to our peace of mind…our sense of security.

In a very positive way, “John” brought with it a renewed sense of community spirit. We got right to work, cleaning up the debris from our homes and helping our neighbors. The East Cape Rotary Club and government agencies like DIF mounted efforts to collect money and supplies to assist families whose resources could not cover the damage they had sustained. The work to repair and rebuild will go on for
many months. The emotional damage may be with us a little longer.
 

Letters from Home

The following letters were written to folks back home by their friends who were out and about traveling the far corners of the globe. Some are funny, some are poignant and others just a little silly…..

Agnes de Mille to Anna George de Mille, trip through the British Isles, August 2, 1934:  “Dearest Mum:  Tomorrow at dawn, or literally very early, we motor north. The address will be:  BRYNHRYD, PONTFADOG, WREXHAM, DENBIGHSHIRE.  This is not a cable code. It is a Welsh address recognized by the Royal Automobile Club and the post office…..”

Mark Twain to W.D. Howells, in Rome, November 1878:   “…I wish I could give those sharp satires on European life which you mention, but of course a man can’t write successful satire except he be in a calm, judicial good-humor; whereas I  hate travel, and I hate hotels, and I hate opera, and I hate the old masters. In truth, I don’t ever seem to be in a good-enough humor with anything to satirize it. No, I want to stand up before it and curse it and foam at the mouth, or take a club and pound it to rags and pulp.”

S.J. Perelman to Anne Gregg, from France, April13, 1975:  …”when I arrived here last Tuesday I bundled up my frillies needful of washing and bore them to a laverie on the outskirts of Souillac As I entered its portals veiled with steam, I realized I’d forgotten to mark ‘NO STARCH’ in French for my chemises, but had clean forgotten the word for starch though I knew it ended in ‘on’. Determined to brazen it through somehow, I handed over the bundle to the young man in charge and said that I didn’t want any ‘dindon’ in the chemises. ‘Dindon? dindon?’ he repeated helplessly. Then, genius that he was, he realized what this insane foreigner was driving at. ‘Ah, oui! Pas de  amidon!’ It wasn’t until I got back to my pocket lexion that I realized I’d been begging him not to put turkey in my shirts…”

Joanne Sandstrom to friends during a four-year sailing cruise around the world with her family June 17, 1977: :  Dear Friends:  Re the joys of cruising, item #???.  Donald and I just figured out that we haven’t enjoyed a night of uninterrupted sleep for two months. And our last hot shower was on March 12. It’s a good thing we’re godly(?) , because we sure aren’t cleanly.  We’ve been beating for so long that Donald is convinced that the trade winds are a myth - probably found only along the Mythythyppi (You see what being cooped up is doing to us!)