Paye, Rancho Los Alisos
When Paye bought El Rancho Los Alisos, for 5 years he did nothing but clear out rocks and shrubs with his hands and a machete. The land was eroded from intensive cattle grazing and taken over by the huizache and their razor-like thorns. There was nowhere to plant, no buildings, and no tools. So he slept on the ground and got to work. He hand-dug a reservoir to collect rainwater and a trench to ensure his neighbor’s toxic chemical run-off didn’t infiltrate his soil. He laid the bricks for his house himself.
Huizache thorns will pierce a shoe.
Paye grew up in a farming community in Sinaloa where all the food produced and eaten came from the community land and hardly anything was imported. You worked with what the land provided.
After migrating to Guadalajara as a boy, he became a farmhand on a super-sized industrial farm. Wealthy landowners throwing as much fertilizer, chemicals, and massive machinery as money could buy to churn out produce for export.
Eventually, he was able to secure funds to purchase the 4 hectare of land that would become El Rancho Los Alisos.
5 years of bushwhacking and moving rocks seemed to me like some sort of Herculean trial, but he shrugs and says this is what he wants to do. When you find your life’s work, you can endure hardship to make your vision into reality. In his case, the vision was more a memory of his community in the highlands of Sinaloa.
Paye still farms by hand and, on just 2 hectare, he produces maíz (corn), beans, carrot, lettuce, onion, radish, cilantro, parsley, tomato, beet, zucchini, peanut, wheat, chickpea, chayote, sunflower, oats, lime, guayaba, membrillo, orange, chiles, alfalfa, nopal, plums, banana, honey, and eggs. The ranch also collects seeds for more than 50 types of heirloom maíz. He uses no off-farm inputs and sells all his produce direct to the consumer at Feria de Productores.
On the adjoining 2 hectare, Paye runs the Centro Formación en Agroecología y Sustentabilidad (CFAS) (translated, Training Center in Agroecology and Sustainability), where he hosts farming families from all over Jalisco to teach sustainable alternatives to conventional agriculture. His workshops have engaged more than 14,000 people.
Paye’s latest venture is a non-profit cooperative project to create a regional agroecological hub and educational center with 10 families on 100 hectare. Once the production infrastructure is established, they hope to open a store in Guadalajara to sell the produce directly to consumers.
Many self-sufficient agricultural communities like Paye’s hometown have turned into industrialized monoculture food deserts with residents driven to the cities in search of economic opportunity. However, the relationship to the land and community ties can be regenerated. Organizations like CFAS teach the holistic benefits of sustainable agriculture and give producers the insights into rehabilitating their land. Direct markets like la Feria de Productores show consumers where their food comes from and empower people to vote with their capital.
Industrial food systems rely on darkness to maintain hegemony. Education illuminates the holistic, agroecological alternative.
