DMA In general. Schedule. Connecting the Dots: Economy, Sustainability and Agriculture. March Sustainable production + tourism=profit?

Transcription

1 Directors Meeting of the Americas 2013 IAAS México DMA 2013 Connecting the Dots: Economy, Sustainability and Agriculture March 2013 Schedule March 15 March 16 March 17 March 18 March 19 March 20 March 21 March 22 March 23 Arrivals City Tour and Horse Fair Wine house, dairy farm and Peña de Bernal The Lavender Project, Organic Lettuce Farm and Trade Fair Koppert Biological Systems and CIASPE Conferences and Country Reports Sheep farm and Night Club Party Conferences, Job Fair and General Assembly Tequila production and San Miguel de Allende tour In general DMA took place from the 15 th to the 23 rd of March in Querétaro, central Mexico. We had a total of 20 IAAS participants plus three days on which we opened the event to all our University (150 people, more less). We visited 9 agricultural places of interest, 3 touristic cities, held 4 conferences and had 3 official IAAS events (plus parties almost every day!). The participants elected new Regional Director, Communications Officer, Recruitment Officer and Control Committee. Strategies to become a stronger region were discussed, and debt payments were arranged by Guatemala and Mexico (Debt-Free National Committees were considered very important during GA in order to attract new members in our countries). Keep on reading to find out more about this great Meeting! Sustainable production + tourism=profit? Find out more on our trip to Rancho la Hondonada and Cavas Freixenet de México! Pg. 2

2 Agri-Tourism in Querétaro. Imagine sustainable production that partners up with tourism It s a good way to advertise a product and make a show out of your production! That s what we learnt from the first two days in Querétaro State. A Friday 15 th was a quiet day. Mainly, we organized some activities and games to get to know each other. Not all the participants had arrived yet, and most of them were tired. That afternoon, we let them rest and recover a little from their flights. Next day we visited the city on the Touristic Tram. The charming city center, along with the colorful handcrafted goods and the cloudy sky were a good combination to start the day. After the guided tour, our fabulous Biotech students, Bianka and Linda, organized a rally around the city center. It was so much fun! After a pause for lunch, the OC guided the participants to the main bus stop in the city center and took the urban transport to the International Horse Fair There, we enjoyed a Dancing Horse Show, listened to traditional Mexican music and saw beautiful, award-winning horses on exhibition. On Sunday, we headed towards Cavas Freixenet. The 40 minute ride allowed us to get to know each other a little more, as some of our participants had arrived the night before. Freixenet is a wine house and vineyard that works as a touristic attraction on weekends when the machinery is turned off. After the guided tour in Freixenet, we had lunch in Ex- Hacienda Ajuchitlán, an old Hacienda that is now property of the State of Queretaro to be used as a training center for farmers. d2

3 Continued Haciendas were very important during the Colonial times in Mexico, and also played and important part in Mexican Revolution in the early 1900 s. The charming Ex-Hacienda was a perfect match for that day s visits. After having lunch, we hopped back into the bus and started our way to Rancho La Hondonada, an organic dairy farm that produces high-quality milk, cheese and yoghurt beverages. This farm is a great example of highstandard production, animal welfare and also, it s a touristic spot! Visitors can travel around the farm on a cart pulled by the tractor. We saw the milking process in their sophisticated carrousel milking machine, and tasted the cheeses in the end of the visit. Our next spot was Peña de Bernal, the largest rock in America. Of course, we got the chance to climb on it! To end the day, we had some delicious gorditas for dinner in the magic town of Bernal and then returned for some party to Querétaro City. What is going on outside of the State of Querétaro? On Monday we visited The Lavender Project, a community that decided to plant an unusual kind of crop to survive in a very arid place. This people stopped growing maize because their yields were becoming lower and lower. They solved this problem by adapting 1000 lavender plants to Guanajuato s weather, and succeeded creating an enterprise that produces hand made spa items with the extracts of the flowers. Aucencio Domenzain, the leader of the project, told us that now they have 4 productive hectares and they can expand to more than 20. Their production is water saving, they no chemical pesticides and they apply organic fertilizers only. Today, out of the 100 families that live in Aucencio s community, 27 are making their living from the Lavender Project. Wow! d3

4 Continued What about Trade Fair? Canada, Guatemala and Mexico made beautiful stands for this year s Trade Fair. It was a great party, and we had the chance to learn how to dance with a live Norteño music band! After our visit to the Lavender Project, we went to a nearby farm called Rancho el Potrero. They produce organic-certified lettuce, celery and green tomato. It is a very well organized farm, and we could see how biological control is applied in open spaces. Also, we saw the experimental testing of the Earth Box project, a water-saving pot that can reduce irrigation up to an 80%. The agronomists in the farm, Carlos and Antonio, were very kind and welcoming, and we had a very good time at the farm. When we finished the visits we went back to Querétaro to get everything ready for Trade Fair! All the countries went to cook and the OC helped getting their stands ready. We had a very Mexican dinner: pozole, tostadas and a tasting of mescal and tequila. What a great night! CIASPE, a center for innovation and research in small-scaled sustainable agriculture. We had a wonderful lunch there and then Gabriela, Sandra and Miguel gave us a tour around the research center. They use the Bio Intensive method to cultivate a lot of vegetables in a small space. The mission of CIASPE is to teach small producers and deprived families how to grow their own food in a sustainable way. Their team works mainly in the state of Querétaro, and they have done great things for the marginalized communities of the region. CIASPE also happens to be one of our ExPro places. Next day we woke up kind of late haha! But then we headed towards Koppert Biological Systems, a very large company that produces bumblebees to improve pollination inside greenhouses. Lexie, an IAAS Alumna, gave us the tour through the whole productive process and explained to us how the company works. It is one of the largest biological control companies in the world, and in Querétaro they produce bumblebees exclusively. After the visit, we went to d4

5 Making two events at once Something crazy but fun to do! The Mexican OC already knew that IAAS events are always a great experience, so they decided to share a part of the congress with the whole University! On the 20 th, 21 st and 22 nd of March, IAAS held the Agronomic Forum 2013 (Foro Agronómico 2013), which made possible to all the members of the bioscience mayors to attend to conferences, visits, workshops and a great Job Fair. We managed to get an attendance of 170 local participants during those three days. We re hoping that this will be a good way to get more members and even have more committees in Mexico! This event was a lot of work to do, so we worked along with other students groups from the Agronomy Academy: Horticulture Club. Zootechnics Club. XMX Club. Thank you all guys! Here s a bit of what we shared with the rest of the University: *Wednesday: two great conferences, one about water saving in agriculture and the other about maize and wheat biodiversity conservation. *Thursday: we organized three visits; students could choose one of them. The DMA participants went to Rancho Los Manueles to learn about Suffolk and Black Belly sheep. They had a wonderful Barbacoa (Mexican way of cooking lamb) at the farm. Yum! The other two visits were to a greenhouse and to an animal feed factory. The three of them were very successful among the students! That night our Party Committee, headed by Frida, organized a Night Club Party for all the participants of the Agronomic Forum. *On Friday we had the job fair with more than 12 international companies and local NGO s. We also had the event s official closure and two great conferences: one about seed biotechnology and the other on organic farming. Great contrast but both were very interesting. Friday ended with a visit to the CAETEC (the University s farm), where we saw the milking process and the greenhouses. d5

6 General Assembly What happened during the central point of the Regional Meeting? On Wednesday 20 we had the Country Reports. Canada, Guatemala and Mexico presented their plans for the rest of the year and talked about the activities they ve been doing recently. Victoria Salas, from the University of California Santa Cruz, joined the DMA and during the Country Reports she announced that she would start IAAS California! On Friday 22 we held the General Assembly. Four themes were discussed: 1. Next DMA will be in USA! 4 votes in favor, 0 against. Victoria said her newborn committee could host it California 2014! 2. The debt payment of Guatemala and Mexico would be deposited together by the Mexican Committee. We have already fulfilled to do so on the week after DMA, so now both are debt-free countries. Congratulations! 3. Elections were held for the Regional Positions. These were the results, all chosen by unanimity: Regional Director: Dylan Clark, USA Communications Officer: Pierre- Alexandre Papillon, Canada Recruitment Officer: Ana Baños, Mexico Control Committee: Samuel Navarrete, Mexico. Congratulations! 4. All countries agreed that it was very important to have international EC or CC members in the Regional Meeting. We made a commitment to bring this discussion on the GA of WoCo 2013 in Chile. Our last day was absolutely awesome! We went to Corralejo, a Tequila distillery, to find out how the most famous Mexican drink is made. After watching the whole process, we will never see tequila shots the same way. A lot of work is put into each step of the harvesting, cooking, distillation and bottling of this fine product. After we had tequila tasting at Corralejo, we continued towards San Miguel de Allende, a magical and well-preserved colonial town. We had lunch there and stayed till the night came. What a charming city! When we returned to Querétaro, we had a farewell party and said goodbye to all of our new IAAS friends. Have a safe trip back to your countries! d6

7 Directors Meeting of the Americas Special thanks to SEDEA Querétaro Biotecnología Orgánica S.A. Centro de Desarrollo Profesional Bayer Crop Science CIMMYT Our Sponsors: Silos de Agua CEICKOR Koppert de México Empresario S.A. de C.V. CIASPE IAAS Alumni and teachers who helped us a lot! Ivar Maravilla Rogelio Castañeda Lexie Méndez Eng. Arturo González de Cosío Dr. Guadalupe Suárez Dr. Sonia Vázquez And of course, our University: Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Querétaro Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, campus Querétaro. Epigmenio González No. 500, Col. San Pablo Tecnológico, Santiago de Querétaro, Querétaro, México. C.P iaas.mexico@gmail.com