Mexico’s green niche expanding

In terms of land area, Mexico is the fifth biggest country on the American continent, and in 2011 its population numbered nearly 114 million. In recent years the country has undergone radical change: an almost balanced budget, low unemployment and a growing middle class are encouraging increasing demand for organic products. A number of initiatives launched by the retail trade and gastronomy are responding to the desire of consumers to buy organics. The organic movement is supported by lively organic organizations, educational establishments and universities. Mexico is among the 20 biggest producers of organic goods worldwide, is the most important organic coffee producer and exports 80 % of its organic honey to Germany. Our article provides an overview of developments in the organic sector in Mexico. (Picture: The coffee and honey cooperative Maya Vinic in the mountains in Chiapas, southern Mexico)
When Laura Goméz, her father, her colleague Rita Schwentesius and other people in the faculty of agriculture at the University of Chapingo started to collect data on the organic market, their primary aim was to evaluate the importance of this sector. Since those days, much has happened: the data, that are compiled every two years, are evidence of pleasing growth. Organically managed agricultural land has expanded from about 23,000 ha in 1996 to an estimated 400,000 ha in 2011, that are farmed by ca. 130,000 farmers. (Picture: Laura Goméz with the current edition of the data on organic farming in Mexico)

“The number of farmers shows how fragmented organic farming is here in Mexico,” Goméz explains. They are often organized in cooperatives, with individual farmers frequently operating with only 2-5 ha. But it’s precisely this state of affairs that today she feels is an important argument with which to approach the government.
“We try to get across to the people in charge just how important organic agriculture is for 88 % of small farmers and for preventing poverty. 40 % of the Mexican population are still living below the poverty line, and this figure includes many small farmers in the indigenous population. Biodiversity and climate change are just about as significant, and organic agriculture offers solutions to those problems. (Picture: Many small farmers who belong to the indigenous population try to secure a living on tiny plots of land)

The fact that the government now at least supports organic agriculture in some federal states, by for example covering some of the cost of certification, Goméz regards as an achievement. The Ministry of Agriculture (SAGARPA) has also for a number of years supported the attendance of bigger firms at trade fairs like BioFach and is thus stimulating exports. However, the country still has very few processors, and most products are exported as raw materials or semi-finished (ca. 80 %). Among the most important products are coffee – almost 50 % of the volume of goods – followed by avocados, fruit and vegetables (with the USA as the main importer), herbs, honey, agave syrup, cocoa and coconuts. The most recent validated data are from 2008: total turnover amounted to approximately 394 million US dollars.

There has been a law covering organic food in Mexico since 2006, although they are still waiting for the regulations on implementation. Goméz hopes that the current government will issue them and so create legal certainty by the time there are new elections at the end of 2012. A number of private inspection organizations are doing good work. In the past, however, there were irregularities in the case of farms monitored by the Italian BioAgricert, and some farms had their organic certificates revoked. The industry is aware of this problem.

For 15 years Certimex has been the sole national inspection organization and is the only one of four Latin American certifiers that is recognised by the EU. Alongside these organizations, international inspection and certification companies are also at work in Mexico, for example BCS and IMO. The Naturland association has been certifying small farms in Mexico since the 1980s. On the front line, Peter Gänz looks after and advises about 30 Naturland cooperatives (13,000 small farmers) that produce coffee, cocoa, tropical fruit, honey and agaves in organic quality. (Picture: Taurino Reyes, Director of the organic inspection organization Certimex, sees his company as an important partner of the small farmers and as a source of help in the marketing of products)

The organic law contains a paragraph on participatory certification, applying only to the internal market, that can be issued by the members of a cooperative or marketing group. “This is a great opportunity for small producers, who often can’t afford inspection and certification by an official organization,” says Laura Goméz. However, Peter Gänz has reservations, because laymen often do not have the expertise to deal with technical questions about organic production and processing and the standards of certification.

Laura Goméz and her colleagues have been promoting the creation of regional direct marketing since 2000, and a network of 22 local farmers markets, so-called Tianguis organicos, has been set up. At these markets, that are administered on a participatory basis, not only producers and processors with organic certification but also non-certified regional companies and those in conversion sell their products. Goods are correspondingly labelled. In San Cristóbal de Las Casas, in Chiapas, about 20 suppliers sell their goods twice a week in a rented market hall: fruit and vegetables, bread, cakes and tortillas, meat, cheese, jams and canned products. (Pictures: Tianguis organicós offer a surprisingly wide variety of fresh and processed local foods)

Luz del Carmen Silva (on the left in the picture) does her shopping here. She has joined the NGO Camadds A.C. and runs the initiative El Collectivo Mujeres y Maíz and La Milpa. Together with a young chef, she has created a catering service and a restaurant with indigenous and mestizo women. Her aim is to take in women off the street and teach them modern, healthy and hygenic methods of cooking with regional ingredients, and thus to secure additional income for them. The 45 women work on a rotating basis. The little restaurant La Milpa was set up with donations from foreign foundations. As far as possible, they buy ingredients that are produced in the region by organic agriculture, with some coming from domestic gardens and the women’s own small farms.
(Picture: The women learn about modern domestic science and healthy nutrition, and earn money in the process)

In San Cristóbal you can buy organic fruit and vegetables in the shop Casa del Pan near to the market (picture below in middle and on right). The shop is small, but it offers a wide range of wholemeal bread and bakery products that are made in the same building, just behind the big café-restaurant that serves a wide range of breakfasts and many traditional dishes, mainly with organic and regional ingredients, with everything produced in its own kitchen. San Cristóbal has two other organic cafés: Café Natura (picture below on left) and Café Maya Vinic offer regional organic coffee and wholemeal food. (Pictures: Surprising organic offer in San Cristóbal: Casa del Pan, Café Natura, Café Maya Vinic and Pox (above right), a shop with organic coffee and organic sugarcane spirits called Posh)



The farms belonging to the cooperative Maya Vinic are in the mountains a good hour’s drive from San Cristóbal. In the village Acteal, you see the warehouse, training room and the facilities for coffee plant breeding and beekeeping on a small scale. The cooperative was founded at the beginning of the 1990s, and it developed well until the government massacred people because they were suspected of supporting the rebel Zapatistas. Ten years ago, Maya Vinic was rebuilt with aid from abroad, and today it consists of nearly 530 small farmers – coffee producers and about 130 beekeepers. The highland coffee is taken by the members to Acteal to be cleaned and prepared, after which it is marketed. A part of the approximately 200 t of organic and fair trade certified coffee of differing quality is processed in their own roasting facility and then sold on the domestic market (own brand and in their café in San Cristóbal). Most of the coffee is exported. Several containers of honey went to the USA and Europe in 2011. (Pictures: The coffee and honey cooperative Maya Vinic produces for both the domestic market and the export market. In the picture demonstration beekeeping)

The retail company Green Corner (picture below) was founded eight years ago in the mega metropolis Mexico City. In the meantime, four stores have been launched in the districts Coyoacán, Condesa, Polanco and Cuajimalpa. In Coyoacán and Condesa, two Green Corner restaurants (guests can sit inside and outside) offer vegetarian and macrobiotic menus as well as traditional cuisine (with meat). On their websites, the operators express their commitment to organic and natural products, fair trade and environmental protection. The company says that it sells more than 3,000 products that come from its own organic farm in the federal state of Morelos, where they also have a processing facility, (Cocina Verde), from a network of farmers in central and southern Mexico and from manufacturers. Some products are imported. However, their farm and many of the products in the shops are not certified organic. The Green Corner stores offer not only fresh food and a dry goods range but also natural cosmetics and health products. Green Corner relies on renewable energy in two of its stores (solar and heat recovery) and it intends to extend this commitment to other stores. With tasting sessions, by posting recipes on its website and taking part in markets, events and other promotional activities, the company’s aim is to make consumers more aware of the healthy product ranges on offer. (Picture: Maya Vinic sack for coffee beans)

The first organic trade fair Oaxaca Organico, that was organized by the local agricultural administration in the federal state Oaxaca, is testimony to the increasing importance of the organic sector. It was held on 30 and 31 March 2012 in Oaxaca (380,000 inhabitants), and nearly 400 actors and producers in the organic sector attended. The programme included lectures, forums, working groups and an exhibition with tasting sessions. Salomón Jara Cruz from the agricultural administration announced the strategic programme Oaxaca Organico 2012 – 2016, whose aim is to promote the organic sector. Laura Goméz estimates that the demand for organics already exceeds the supply. “Many shops are including organics in their product ranges. We’re getting lots of enquiries from interested parties who want us to tell them where they can source organic goods." (Picture:Green Corner’s restaurant in Mexico City)