Living la vida local

Less Plastic, More Healthy Food

What difference can one small farm make? Well, more than you’d think. We’re producing fresh, organic vegetables, year-round, for our local community, all the while collecting waste to fuel the compost pile. Why? To reduce the plastic waste polluting the very beaches that drive our tourist economy, to decrease carbon emissions, and to recreate circular, sustainable food sources. By the people - for the people!

Menos Plástico Más Comida Saludable is a local solution for a worldwide problem. Instead of upscaling, we’re downsizing. The simple sustainable way: fresh, organic veggies from a local organic farm run by a plant lover that’s part of the same community, delivered to the doorsteps of our own Mahahual. Seasonal, nutritious, and affordable healthy food, without any single use of plastic or pesticides.

Local isn’t loco
Ask yourself: why am I eating something grown miles and miles away (and sometimes, grown on a completely different continent)? How are vegetables and fruits, which normally go to waste in a matter of days, constantly available in our stores? And where are we leaving all that plastic wrap?

Our nutrient-rich Mayan soil is more than capable of pulling its weight. Our farm produces all kinds of regular vegetables, like zucchinis, eggplant, tomatoes, spinach (and chaya), potatoes, different kinds of beans, corn, soybeans, lettuces like arugula and wild lettuce (and many, many more). Next to this, it produces a range of aromatics and spices, ranging from fresh dill, rosemary, and cilantro to jalapenõs and (smoked) habaneros.

Big vs. Small
According to research(*), 50% of our global food calorie intake is produced by small, local farms. And they’re doing it on just 30% of the available farmland. Take that, commercial agriculture! With seasonal produce without additives or pesticides, small farms produce their own compost and manage country-specific livestock. Their customers are the local community, who eat fresh, healthy produce.

Small farms tend to grow more diverse crops, use more planet-friendly methods and strive to work together with the community they’re supporting. Because they’re close, there’s no need for long transportation lines, trucks, and packaging. Most of all, they’re run by members of a community, instead of faraway venture capitalists.

*https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/11/12/124010/meta

So what about large farms? Even though economists agree that larger, single-cropping farms make more money, the bad outweighs the good. Larger, more chemical-heavy farming operations damage the environment. According to the EPA, commercial agriculture is the biggest source of pollution in our lakes, rivers, and oceans. Moreover, larger-scale farms tend to use tens of thousands of acres of a two- or three-crop rotation, with chemical fertilizers, and pesticides as a standard operating procedure. And let’s not talk about animal welfare issues…

Dream up your dinner plate
Here’s an exercise: when looking at your next dinner plate, try to imagine what the farm your food came from would look like. Got it? And then, ask yourself, what would a perfect farm look like? Where would I want my children to get their food from?

There’s a kind of farm that comes to mind for most of us. It’s relatively small, and you know the farmer who runs it. It’s diverse, growing different kinds of seasonal produce. The livestock leads healthy, happy lives. It may or may not be organic, but it uses planet-friendly methods - crop rotation, no pesticide use, biodegradable materials, and composting.
So… that’s exactly what we offer. Fresh, organic vegetables from the people of Mahahual, for the people of Mahahual.

Reducing plastic, fossil fuel, and food waste
Single-use plastic wrap for food conservation, long-distance deliveries from faraway farms, pesticides, chemicals, and deep-freezing vegetables are impacting our health, our soil, and woodlands (and the planet isn’t too fond of it either). That’s why we need to rethink our farming: is “efficient” mega-agriculture actually effective?

Our mission is to create a sustainable, circular food chain in Mahahual. By collecting the food waste of our inhabitants, we fuel the compost piles necessary for organic farming. This way, we reduce not only our footprint but also reduce the amount of garbage in the local landfill. Yes, we can, baby!

And not only is organic farming good for our bellies, but it also helps to reduce the plastic that washes up our beaches and ends up in our mangroves. By producing local food, we skip the plastic necessary for large-scale farming operations, transportation, and wholesale to markets.