Organic Way comes to San Miguel
By Ronnie Cummins

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA), a nationwide network of organic consumers in the US, is pleased to announce the formation of a new sister organization in Mexico called Vía Orgánica, or the “Organic Way.” With a retail organic food store in Querétero, a new grocery and café opening in the Guadalupe/Aurora neighborhood of San Miguel de Allende on May 22, as well as a picturesque organic farm and conference center outside of Atotonilco. Vía Orgánica’s positive mission is to promote organic food and farming, fair trade and green living. 

Carmina Navarette Galván, President of Vía Orgánica, says she was inspired by the work of the OCA while living in California and returned to her hometown, Querétero, to open an organic food store three years ago. The store, Orgánica, is located at Avenida Constituyentes 77 Oriente in Querétero. After several years of successfully operating the Orgánica store, Navarette and a group of activists began discussions on how to strengthen the budding organic movement in Mexico. Recently Navarette and others, including OCA founders in the US, decided to take the plunge and form Vía Orgánica. With initial seed funds from the OCA, Vía Orgánica is off to a promising start. 

Rosana Álvarez Martínez, born and raised in San Miguel, owner of the Casa Angelitos B&B, and Vice-President of Vía Orgánica, says the group’s goal is to promote health and environmental awareness in the various communities of San Miguel. Martínez believes the best way to do this is by building upon the foundations of traditional Mexican food, farming and culture. “Vía Orgánica, the organic way of food and farming, is not some foreign import designed for rich people in San Miguel, but rather the traditional way that our grandparents farmed and cooked, without unhealthy chemicals and food additives,” she says.

Luc Monzies is the farm and tienda manager for Vía Orgánica as well as founder of the café, Tapas, in San Miguel. He says, “For organic food to prosper in Mexico, it must be high quality, locally or regionally produced and affordable. That’s why the organic and natural food sold at Tapas and the new Vía Orgánica grocery store in the Guadalupe neighborhood is reasonably priced. Vía Orgánica’s goal is to demonstrate that neighborhood restaurants and tiendas can sell delicious, healthy organic foods at a price that locals of modest means can afford.”

Vía Orgánica has also launched a wholesale organic distribution business, with the goal of making the organic food produced by regional organic farmers available for restaurants and neighborhood grocers in San Miguel and Querétero. The Vía Orgánica greenhouse and fields are already supplying fresh organic vegetables to local restaurants including el bajo fondo and The Restaurant, as well as Tapas. 

Vía Orgánica’s beautiful organic farm and conference center in the Río Laja Valley of Atotonilco, 11 km from San Miguel (formerly called Rancho Las Palmas)—equipped with a thermal swimming pool, expansive gardens, luxurious sleeping accommodations for 20 and several large reunion halls—has recently hosted groups of visiting organic activists, as well as meetings and film screenings on topics such as Waldorf education, organic gardening, “peak oil” and green building techniques.

Summer plans include regularly hosting groups of 15 to 20 people—both locals and visitors—for eco-tourism/eco-agriculture tours and establishing an organic farming school to train students and interns interested in advanced organic farming and food processing techniques. 

Vía Orgánica offers four-day intensive farming, cooking and alternative medicine courses (every other Thursday to Sunday), as well as daily open programs. The cost for four-day courses is 4,500 pesos per person and includes three organic meals per day, deluxe accommodations and expert instruction. The cost for the daily open program is 800 pesos per person per night and includes organic breakfast, deluxe accommodations and expert instruction (two-night minimum.) For reservations, contact Vía Orgánica at (415) 185-2194 or maya@organicconsumers.org.

Vía Orgánica’s website is: http://organicconsumers.org/ACO/index.cfm. For a slide show on the Vía Orgánica farm and conference center go to: http://www.organicconsumers.org/tours/index.cfm. 

Vía Orgánica cordially invites everyone to visit its new grocery store and Tapas cafe in the Guadalupe/Aurora neighborhood, opening May 22 (calle Margarita Ledezma 2, one block off Calzada de la Aurora at Mario Talavera), 152-8042. Store and café hours are 9am–9pm, Monday–Saturday. Free parking for customers is available at the corner of calles Mario Talavera and Margarito Ledesma.


Ten reasons to buy 

1. Organic and locally grown food tastes better.

2. Organic and locally produced food is healthier, with higher rates of vitamins and important trace minerals.

3. Organic and local food preserves genetic diversity by cultivating a wide variety of crops and animal breeds.

4. Organic and local foods are free from genetically engineered organisms, hormones, antibiotics and vaccines.

5. Organic and local food is grown without toxic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, thereby preserving the environment and wildlife.

6. Organic food, produced and distributed locally, conserves scarce fossil fuels and water.

7. Organic farming fights global warming by holding in the soil climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases, such as C02, and by reducing or eliminating methane and nitrous oxide emissions.

8. Organic and local food helps local farm families and ranchos get a fair price for their crops.

9. Organic and local food builds community by connecting local consumers and farmers.

10. Organic and local food promotes food security, by ensuring that there will be prosperous and self-sufficient farms and organic food stores in the future. 


Where to buy 

Vía Orgánica (calle Margarita Ledezma 2, Col. Guadalupe), open Monday–Saturday 9am–9pm, 152-8042.

Natura (calle Nueva 7, near Instituto Allende), open Monday–Friday 11am–6pm and Saturday 11am–3pm, (415) 154-8629.

Ronnie Cummins is the National Director of the Organic Consumers Association in the US.