Where We Work
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Willywood Project Area
La Maquina Project Area
Caballo Blanco Project Area
Willywood Project Area
The communities in this area were founded just 25 years ago following the Caminitas Pro-Tierras (Walk for Land), when 16,000 displaced peasant farmers marched 180 kilometers from Nueva Concepción to the National Palace in Guatemala City to ask for land. Led by liberation theologist Padre Andrés Girón, the refugees and landless peasants spent three days fasting and protesting in front of the palace, resulting finally in an agreement from the government to grant them land. Thus, in the spring of 1986, they arrived on the reclaimed farm San Carlos Malagro Cascaro. There they began the process of building their homes, planting corn and beans, and reforesting the overgrown grassland.Willywood: A small community of about 250 families, Willywood is made up of a diverse mix of cultures. Many of the refugees who settled here came from the Mayan highlands of Quiché, bringing their colorful culture, indigenous dialect, and traditions to the coastal lifestyle. Farmers here cultivate corn and beans, along with cashew, mango, and lime for export. Within this area, we are working with a cooperative of 42 small corn producers, Cooperativa Integral Agricola Union Campesina R.L. along with other interested community members.
Conrado de la Cruz: In Conrado de la Cruz, a community similar in size and structure to Willywood, we are working with community leader Associacion Desarollo del Sur (ADESUR), a network of over 200 farmers who primarily grow corn and sesame.
La Maquina Project Area
La Maquina is a large agricultural region where corn has been produced for centuries. Now, however, farmers are slowly selling their land and moving away, finding it difficult or impossible to profit from corn production. Land grabbing, ownership struggles, and the displacement of entire communities is not unheard of, as sugar cane plantations creep slowly across the entire southern plain. To confront this challenge, many of the communities of the La Maquina area have begun the process of organizing in order to have a voice comparable to that of the plantation owners. In this area we are working with the following communities:Los Encuentros: A small community of about 500 families only a few miles from the Pacific coast, Los Encuentros is home to many who farm corn and sesame. We are working with Asociación de Desarollo San Antonio Los Encuentros San Andres Villa Seca (ADASEV)-- through assistance with administration and organization and support for profitable sustainable technologies.
Linea B-8: Further north from the Pacific coast is an area similar to Los Encuentros where farmers are struggling to begin a farming association. We are working to foster to the growth of his group by providing assistance on novel technologies and organizational strategies.
El Porvenir: In another small farming community closer to Centro 1 of La Maquina we are working with Association de Pequeños y Medianos Agricultores El Porvenir (APMAPOR)
Caballo Blanco Project Area
The farmers of Caballo Blanco face some of the most severe weather in the region and have lost heavily to the droughts and floods of the last two years. For this reason, farmers in the area are very eager to try new techniques that will grant them resilience to the effects of climate change, while promising to stabilize and even increase their harvests.La Montaña: Cooperativa Agricola Integral R.L. La Montaña is the first community in the area to begin working with us. The results so far have been very positive with farmers from other communities also attending our meetings to learn about our technologies.
Read More: Our Technologies
