The Via Organica Agroecology Centre, located near the UN World Heritage listed town of San Miguel de Allende, is a working model of how to transform once degenerated farmland and pastureland. The working ranch in the semi-arid highlands of Mexico now produces delicious organic vegetables, herbs, fruits, seeds, and animal products for the Via Organica restaurant, farmers market, and food store in the Agroecology Center outside of San Miguel de Allende.
The Billion Agave Project is a game-changing ecosystem-regeneration strategy adopted by several innovative Mexican farms in the high-desert region of Guanajuato. This strategy combines the growing of agave plants and nitrogen-fixing companion tree species (such as mesquite), with holistic rotational grazing of livestock. The result is a high-biomass, high forage-yielding system that works well even on degraded, semi-arid lands. The system produces large amounts of agave leaf and root stem. When chopped and fermented in closed containers, this plant material produces an excellent, inexpensive (two cents per pound) animal fodder. This agroforestry system reduces the pressure to overgraze brittle rangelands and improves soil health and water retention, while drawing down and storing massive amounts of atmospheric CO2.The goal of the Billion Agave campaign is to plant one billion agaves globally to draw down and store one billion tons of climate-destabilizing CO2. A big percentage of the local people work at Vía Orgánica and young agronomy students from around Mexico come for training.
Via Organica works in partnership with Regeneration International and Organic Consumers Association.
Restoration of livelihoods
Compost making
Water retention
Tree planting
Fire prevention
Erosion control
Regenerative entrepreneurialism
Natural building
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“Unsustainable land use and greenhouse gas emissions are delivering a one-two punch to natural ecosystems that are key to the fight against global climate change.