CSA Start-Up Support

Activity: Fund a new Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program in San Javier

Contribution planned: Reimbursable start-up funds; funds for ongoing car operation; support for a visit by Ecologist Vanessa Martinon focused around organics in Los Cabos; video promotion

The San Javier ecosystem is uniquely suited for the growth of leafy vegetables and of fruit or nut trees because its valley is nourished each year by fertile soil deposited when slow rains in the Sierra de la Giganta drain steadily down. Additionally, here and there in the valley are small lakes supporting stable populations of freshwater fish whose urine is a nitrogen source well diluted for watering trees and crops. Also, it is a region where the last three to four generations of farming families have conserved heirloom seeds that create healthy, robust and flavorful crops. 

There is a clear and present danger in San Javier from a mining company trying to persuade farmers to abandon their traditional farming practices and, instead, sell their lands for mining purposes. This poses a threat not only to water protection in San Javier and the whole aquifer of Loreto but also to a source of fresh food and heirloom seeds — the few lands in the desert of Loreto with nourishing soils. From the loss of traditional organic farming would follow the loss of the local flavors that can put Loreto on the map as a place offering unique Baja California peninsula cuisine.

For all of these reasons, this year we will continue to create more community-supported agriculture groups so that more Loretano farmers, local consumers and local businesses can benefit from cost-accessible, locally grown organics. By promoting the growth of CSAs within the municipality we help to establish real income opportunities that enable present and future generations to remain in Loreto.

San Javier Economic Development

Activity: Continued work to improve CSA Jardin Jesuita

Contribution planned: Car maintenance for Foundation staff; staff time at the San Javier farm site and as needed at CSA member gatherings

Jardin Jesuita is a family-run farm located behind the San Javier Mission. The Bastida family has been tilling the fertile soil there for generations, producing robust crops of fruits and vegetables for the community. In May 2019, Jardin Jesuita committed to a community-supported agriculture (CSA) enterprise, agreeing to its part in a system for subscribing consumers to the harvest of a certain farm. During the winter growing season of 2019-2020, the Jardin Jesuita CSA received start-up financial support from Keep Loreto Magical. 

The main reason for giving this support is that farmers in the community of San Javier have been taking their families away from lands traditionally used for agriculture; now mining interests have moved in to buy these lands for purposes that are potentially unhealthy for the water, air or soil. 

To provide economic support so that Jardin Jesuita can remain a provider of fresh fruits and vegetables in our community, thirteen families pre-paid a 24-week membership that yields them a weekly basket of produce on condition that, along with distributing the baskets in Loreto, they volunteer hours at the farm for transplanting, weeding and harvesting. This payment allowed Jardin Jesuita to reimburse the foundation for its CSA start-up funds.

Luis Bastida (owner of the farm), CSA members and Cecilia Fischer met to launch the season, agreeing that both farmer and members would be learning how to communicate and manage expectations during the six months of their relationship. Accordingly, on each weekly produce delivery date and during the week, the farmer and the consumers are in dialogue, coaching one another on what improvements can be made for a better vegetable and fruit basket while the season is still underway.

Cecilia Fischer is the go-between in this dynamic that is referred to as a programa de acompanamiento (program of accompaniment or personal coaching). This year the coaching will continue for the purpose of assuring that Jardin Jesuita can be self-sustaining—that is, have the best chance of solidifying its presence in the local organic market with less reliance on the members and on the Keep Loreto Magical Foundation. Each time a farming family in San Javier creates a new entrepreneurship such as a CSA, they spur other farmers’ interest in going back to the land and strengthen the voices urging protection of water in the San Javier Ejido, which currently is facing the menacing mining interests of Grupo Mexico.