sowing for the future
Agroecology & Food Sustainability
In 2020 we began the first campaign of AGROECOLOGICAL PRODUCTION in the Reserve, free of the use of agrochemicals and on a small scale, in the search to generate our own food in harmony with the land, as an alternative to conventional production.
Cereals, legumes, and a sector of fruit trees, joined the garden started a couple of years earlier to grow our vegetables, with the idea of moving towards self-sustainability and organic consumption of proximity.
The Biodynamic Orchard
Since 2018 we began to shape the idea of producing our own food as a project shared by the whole “family” of El Potrero. A space that, in addition to providing us with fresh products in our own home, would allow us to work communally, sharing stories and knowledge, to grow strong from the ground up in this land that we love and share.
With the purpose of training ourselves, we organized Biodynamic Cultivation workshops: a technique that allows us to obtain organic products with greater production and balance than with traditional techniques. Since then, we have created a vegetable garden in the center of the Reserve where, year after year and according to the planting calendar, we harvest all kinds of vegetables and leafy greens for self-sufficiency.
Quinta & Chacrita
In 2020 we added a new space for planting fruit trees, vegetables and seeds that required more land (different varieties of pumpkins, squash and potatoes, melon, watermelon, sweet corn, peas and sunflower). More than 150 fruit trees were planted, chosen from among the varieties best suited to the area, including citrus trees (oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and lemons), peaches, apricots, plums, pears, apples, quinces, figs, kiwis, grapevines, blueberries and blackberries. In addition, a special sector was set aside for nuts such as almonds and pecans.
At the end of 2021 we carried out the first cotton cultivation tests, with a variety without chemical treatments and not transgenic donated by the Agricultural Experimental Station INTA Sáenz Peña, which since then has been harvested and sown by hand.
Cereals & Legumes
In 2020 we started the first agroecological production campaign of vegetables and grains, free from the use of agrochemicals and on a small scale. A project that aimed to supply all the families living in the Reserve, complementing the vegetable crops, fruits and vegetables, and also being consistent with our vision of producing in biodiversity.
Under these new methods we sow wheat, oats, lentils, chickpeas, different varieties of peas, rapeseed and buckwheat. A manual or mechanized work according to the type of crop, and carried out carefully controlling the humidity of the grain and the natural cycles of each seed.
In the future, the goal is to reach the entire community. A way to promote a more responsible consumption, and focusing on the training of different groups and actors in the area to expand agroecology in the region as a new way to produce our food. Another of the objectives of this point is to supply the social diners near the reserve area. The healthier our children eat, the better future we will have ahead of us.
Internal Sale of Agroecological Products
In 2021 we started selling our products internally with the objective of providing healthy food to El Potrero’s employees at very reasonable prices and strengthening the project by encouraging the transition to agroecological production in the area.
It is sold in bags with a selection of seasonal products (vegetables and fruits from the garden and the farm), to which can be added by order and by kilo, legumes, wheat flour, chickpea flour, pea flour and fractionated honey from our Reserve.
