Rural Enterprise Center

This is the official name for the woodland owners and value added processing business based in Maltrata, Veracruz, Mexico that I recently visited with the group from Saint Dominic’s Catholic Church of Northfield.

As we continue to work on the plans for developing a community based tourism business as a partnership between folks in Maltrata and business leaders in Northfield, Minnesota, I wanted to introduce readers of this blog to the “eco” part of this project.

The woodland owners association was formed as an initiative from two individuals who lived in Northfield a decade ago. The leaders of this initiative Martin Gómez Pérez (President, black jacket) and Ignacio Pérez (Secretary, tan jacket) shown in the middle of the picture, to the right is Martin’s wife and on the left is Martin’s sister Adelaida Gómez Pérez, who supports the association through her work with the office of Fomento Agropecuario (Agragrian Support Office) of the Municipality or Ayuntamiento of Maltrata.

This organization currently manages in excess of 13,000 acres lf forests, some of it is being harvested while other parts are being managed for future production. This is a forest dominated by pine varieties, cypress and hardwoods, primarily oak varieties, the big difference between this region and most other similar forests is that it only takes 14 to 16 years for a tree to reach a 14 to 18 inches diameter, a bit over one inch of growth in diameter per year.

The organization is formed currently by 33 landowners, employs 20 people in different positions, plants over 400,000 trees a year, has a value added processing plant in town, runs its own nursery, and has totally eliminated the conventional middleman from the operations. The Sociedad also ensures an equal distribution of benefits to its members and decent labor conditions and compensation for workers which shows in the high level of motivation observed in the plant and in the fields.

Members also are ensured full participation through a cooperative-like governing structure, their efforts to go direct to market and share work and develop community-driven development strategies has allowed them to capture over 4 times the market value for their forest products if compared with the traditional prices paid by middleman (coyotes) who are well known for paying the lowest prices and sometimes disappearing with large unpaid bills to the woodlandowners.

The Sociedad is now positioned to also transform their large acreage of forest lands around Maltrata into an eco-tourism destination, something that has won the approval from the Secretary of Tourism and from the regional development organizations. Currently there is a window of opportunity to generate up to US$50,000 of federal funding from the Mexican government to develop nature trails, cottages and other infrastructure to support an ecotourism destination among the members of the organization.

In future postings we will wrap this reports up with an introduction of the “Maltrata Community Eco-Tourism Initiative” a project that will incorporate regional destinations, stays with families from the town, and day trips to the forest and volunteer opportunities for tourists and locals to support the re-forestation in the region, increase investment in the forest industry and re-claim lands of forestry vocation currently under other types of cultivation.

At the LEC, we have been very optimistic about the larger impact of these kinds of projects, primarily, we must acknowledge that many of the young folks working for this operation would most likely migrate to the United States if these opportunities did not exist in Maltrata.

Engaging communities in other countries where large sectors of the population (specially the young) are migrating for economic reasons is something that needs to be addressed within the context of immigration policies, the farm bill and how this affects the local economies in other smaller nations, but most importantly needed changes to trade agreements such as NAFTA and CAFTA that have had a devastating direct effect on small communities.

Supporting the development of local initiatives with measurable and high impact social, environmental and economic benefits has a high return when addressing the reduction of economic-driven migration. This is one important aspect that U.S. taxpayers need to be thinking about in the coming elections, selecting candidates that really understand the immigration issue and are willing to invest in the right strategies is the key to reducing current counter productive border initiatives.

Investing in communities is a self-sustaining mechanism built-in as a result of local ownership. If one understands what causes people to leave their hometowns, and then have the opportunity to work with the families left behind, one can see in real terms the sustainable permanent solutions to economic driven migration right in front of us. By exposing more individuals to this reality, we hope that we will invite new investment in these kind of initiatives as solutions to larger economic disparities and environmental degradation driven by a desperate families fighting for survival.

I am part of a group that is leading the creation of the Northfield community kitchen.  Recent developments include developing the vision and establishing a plan for it.  All of us are very interested in knowing organizations and individuals out there in the community who may be interested in participating in any way in this initiative.  To determine this interest, a survey has been designed and posted at the website dedicated to this effort.

Those of us involve currently invite Northfielders interested in this project to go to the site, fill the survey if you see fit or send your comments via e-mail if you are in support.

Our organization is very interested in seeing this project succeed as it will add much needed infrastructure to support the Latino/a market gardeners that have been emerging over the last year and those who will be involved in growing vegetables during the 2008 growing season.

Don’t let those low temperatures outside get you down, think spring and think gardening and outdoor activity.  During 2007 the Latino Enterprise Center supported the establishment of a community garden North of Northfield behind the Benjamin Bus company (by the radio tower). Given the good response and the commitment from the land manager to continue to provide the space, we have started to plan our 2008 season.

This project was designed to introduce Latino folks into the local food production system, healthier ways of living and a setting to interact with other families and connect with the rest of the community.  To do this, the best motivator was to find ways to plant traditional food products and to involve whole families as much as possible. There are many health benefits derived from a good hour a day and half a Saturday spent gardening, the most beneficial aspect of gardening for these families is probably their ability to network and build community at their own pace while building a food system where old traditions are passed on through the use of the land.  For the individuals who came by themselves, some of them have visited local farmers, grown chickens and experimented with other products, at least seven of them found market gardening to be a possible way of making a living and will be starting to produce for markets during the 2008 season.

On February 12th this year, a group of regional farmers members of the Minnesota Sustainable Farming Association gathered to discuss farm related issues.  The small contingent of aspiring Latino farmers, although shy and unable to understand everything being discussed, joined this group and are now set to participate at the March 8th, CSA sign-up day organized by Just Food Coop.

One market gardeners will be growing around 25 varieties of vegetables for delivery through the season (customers must sign-up and buy a produce share to be part of the program).

Six other folks will raise meat chickens in an acre of pasture that was prepared last year. Chickens will be free ranged on pastures without chemicals.  This chickens will be sold as CSA shares, and sign-up is required.  Both projects will have materials and instructions at the Just Food Cooperative March 8th sign-up.

Through this initiative we hope to keep engaging new families, both those who have land to share, and those interested in using it around Northfield.  Our mission through this program is to continue building a healthier locally based food system and engaging Latino families with the rest of the community through the tradition of working the land, sharing recipes, stories from their homelands, and learning from the local farming traditions and stories.

I am still working on a wrap-up report for our trip to Maltrata, but meanwhile, there are other interesting things happening I would like to post.  I mentioned that I went to Maltrata with a group of parents, kids and the principal of St. Dominic’s Catholic school, but my mission was a bit different, I went to explore the possibility of establishing a community based eco-tourism business.  This part of my report is still in the works, Juan Matus of the Mexican Consulate said they are very interested in what comes out of the trip and in supporting a possible tourism business in the State of Veracruz, where the town of Maltrata is based.  The support from the local government has already been promised and having the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul behind this project will improve its possibilities for success. I will do this part later, for now here is another development in a different front.

Las Thursday February 7th, I had a meeting with Mario Duarte, founder of La Prensa de Minnesota, and Marco Fernandez Landoni, Editorial Director of the Latino Communications Network LLC (the parent company that owns La Prensa and other media outlets such as La Invasora Radio Station).

The purpose of the meeting was to explore a possible partnership with the Northfield News to incorporate a Hispanic/Latino context to the regional news.  Though the conversation was the first of many that may need to be had in order to define what this all means, I see the need for a mass communications tool in our region that addresses the Latino/Hispanic culture, and I hope they set-up some sort of arrangement that can expand this community and the region’s perspectives.

I took a picture of Sam Gett, Jaci Smith both of the Northfield News and Mario and Marco with a frame of the Jesse James Gang in the middle, I was surprised by how much of the James gang history Mario Duarte already knew and since there seem to be no place in Northfield where there isn’t one of this paintings, I figured it was part of my job was to get them used to it right off the track.