Our workshop, where we store and process corn using the artisanal nixtamal process, suffered a crippling fire which resulted in a total loss of that facility. We are working hard to rebuild and relocate our main production facility but we need your help.
Located in the highlands of Southern Mexico, Chiapas in the scenic town of San Cristobal de las Casas we seek to reintegrate rural farmers into the local food chain. Being a young project, we have not been able to save up much money for emergencies like this and our entire project has come to a screeching halt.
We are asking friends, family, and anyone who finds our project interesting for help to assist us in overcoming this unfortunate event.
OUR STORY
A few years ago, while I was on a human rights observation mission in the jungles of Southern Mexico, an old farmer sat down next to me to rest for a bit. He had been carrying a massive 45kg (100 pound) bag of corn on his back and had recently picked it from his field which was located far, far away from his home. I asked him if the corn was for sale and what he was asking for it, he assured me it was and the price was around $7 for the entire load. At the time I had no use for such a quantity of corn, but it got me thinking about how this staple agricultural product - which is intrinsically connected to Mexican culture and cuisine – fit into the current economic realities of Chiapas.
Fast forward to last year, my business partner and I pooled our resources and founded Bats'i Waj (“True Tortilla” in Mayan) - an economic development project aimed at incorporating the small-scale rural farmer in the local economy. We realized that while corn is one of the primary crops grown in Mexico, a large portion of the tortillas and corn products consumed in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas come from a few large corporations that don't buy corn from local farmers but prefer to use large-scale industrial farmers or import corn from the United States. In our view, the local food chain had steadily been broken over the years, leaving these local farmers out and we wanted to do something about it.
Around July 2017 we finally got our Tortilla shop open and began learning everything we could about medium scale artisanal tortilla production. Over the next few months we perfected the process and developed a fantastic group of local consumers and evangelists. For many, it evokes memories of their grandmothers and a time when tortillas were always made with locally grown corn. We also began supplying restaurants and small cafes which love the product and have found it greatly improves the happiness of their customers as well.
Our primary mechanism for improving the livelihoods of these rural farmers is to develop relationships and purchase directly from them. By offering a fair market price directly to the farmers, we are in many cases doubling their income just by cutting out the middleman. Our fair-trade principle has helped many families over the past year but we need you help to continue our project and scale it up to increase our impact.
WHAT STAGE OF THE PROJECT ARE YOU AT RIGHT NOW?
Over the past year we have opened up a shop and built our corn processing facility. Recently we purchased an industrial tortilla machine to scale up our operation. We have perfected our main product – tortillas – and are working on expanding our product line to include tortilla chips, salsas, and other local agricultural products that we are always offered during visits to our suppliers in rural communities.
We have been actively producing and selling to a fantastic group of local restaurants, cafes, and individuals. We are ready for full-scale operation and production, but the fire has set us back and we must rebuild our production facility.
We do not need to purchase any additional equipment and all our existing equipment is safe, but we do need to cover construction, rent, and set up costs for the new facility. We estimate this process will take up to three months from start to finish and we can be producing at maximum capacity shortly after reopening.
WHAT CAUSED THE FIRE?
Being a young project we were not able to afford an industrial grade cooking set up for our daily production needs. We improvised and did the best we could, however, one of our burners failed which ultimately proved catastrophic. Fortunately, the property sustained very minor damage and there were no injuries, however, all our installations were destroyed and we are being forced to relocate after the accident.
HOW WILL YOU ENSURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN?
We are raising money, in part, so we can make sure our cooking installations and gas lines are installed by professionals and certified. In addition to a professional installation we will be installing gas and fire sensors throughout our new facility that will automatically shut-off our main gas line as a fail-safe measure should there be any gas leaks or fires detected. We are taking this incident with extreme seriousness and have learned a hard lesson that will not ever be forgotten.
WHAT WILL YOU USE THE MONEY FOR?
To pay our rent for a new facility, to pay our bills, install safe and certified gas lines, construction materials and most importantly to be able to continue with this amazing project that we are passionate about, our customers love, and bridges rural communities with our local economy.
CryptoCurrency Donation
We also are accepting donations in cryptocurrencies and will make sure your contribution gets registered on the GofundMe page as an offline contribution, thanks for your support!
Bitcoin(BTC)
1CmX8YRHWdptJDVke9nLNmXFef3rqTwBJJ
Ether(ETH)
0x9ae5A6c2844b35B552ca25a383ED95Cd8E0140B4
BitcoinCash(BCH)
qzq3f4j5xydaq5nx3te2xmee6n2hnvn8mgaj9yhpfm
Secure Contact
For further information or if you would like to contact me securely regarding this campaign and project please don't hesitate to contact me:
[email redacted] (PGP key ID 3E1846E3AC225480)
http://alex.luhrman.org
https://keybase.io/alexluhrman
Located in the highlands of Southern Mexico, Chiapas in the scenic town of San Cristobal de las Casas we seek to reintegrate rural farmers into the local food chain. Being a young project, we have not been able to save up much money for emergencies like this and our entire project has come to a screeching halt.
We are asking friends, family, and anyone who finds our project interesting for help to assist us in overcoming this unfortunate event.
OUR STORY
A few years ago, while I was on a human rights observation mission in the jungles of Southern Mexico, an old farmer sat down next to me to rest for a bit. He had been carrying a massive 45kg (100 pound) bag of corn on his back and had recently picked it from his field which was located far, far away from his home. I asked him if the corn was for sale and what he was asking for it, he assured me it was and the price was around $7 for the entire load. At the time I had no use for such a quantity of corn, but it got me thinking about how this staple agricultural product - which is intrinsically connected to Mexican culture and cuisine – fit into the current economic realities of Chiapas.
Fast forward to last year, my business partner and I pooled our resources and founded Bats'i Waj (“True Tortilla” in Mayan) - an economic development project aimed at incorporating the small-scale rural farmer in the local economy. We realized that while corn is one of the primary crops grown in Mexico, a large portion of the tortillas and corn products consumed in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas come from a few large corporations that don't buy corn from local farmers but prefer to use large-scale industrial farmers or import corn from the United States. In our view, the local food chain had steadily been broken over the years, leaving these local farmers out and we wanted to do something about it.
Around July 2017 we finally got our Tortilla shop open and began learning everything we could about medium scale artisanal tortilla production. Over the next few months we perfected the process and developed a fantastic group of local consumers and evangelists. For many, it evokes memories of their grandmothers and a time when tortillas were always made with locally grown corn. We also began supplying restaurants and small cafes which love the product and have found it greatly improves the happiness of their customers as well.
Our primary mechanism for improving the livelihoods of these rural farmers is to develop relationships and purchase directly from them. By offering a fair market price directly to the farmers, we are in many cases doubling their income just by cutting out the middleman. Our fair-trade principle has helped many families over the past year but we need you help to continue our project and scale it up to increase our impact.
WHAT STAGE OF THE PROJECT ARE YOU AT RIGHT NOW?
Over the past year we have opened up a shop and built our corn processing facility. Recently we purchased an industrial tortilla machine to scale up our operation. We have perfected our main product – tortillas – and are working on expanding our product line to include tortilla chips, salsas, and other local agricultural products that we are always offered during visits to our suppliers in rural communities.
We have been actively producing and selling to a fantastic group of local restaurants, cafes, and individuals. We are ready for full-scale operation and production, but the fire has set us back and we must rebuild our production facility.
We do not need to purchase any additional equipment and all our existing equipment is safe, but we do need to cover construction, rent, and set up costs for the new facility. We estimate this process will take up to three months from start to finish and we can be producing at maximum capacity shortly after reopening.
WHAT CAUSED THE FIRE?
Being a young project we were not able to afford an industrial grade cooking set up for our daily production needs. We improvised and did the best we could, however, one of our burners failed which ultimately proved catastrophic. Fortunately, the property sustained very minor damage and there were no injuries, however, all our installations were destroyed and we are being forced to relocate after the accident.
HOW WILL YOU ENSURE THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN AGAIN?
We are raising money, in part, so we can make sure our cooking installations and gas lines are installed by professionals and certified. In addition to a professional installation we will be installing gas and fire sensors throughout our new facility that will automatically shut-off our main gas line as a fail-safe measure should there be any gas leaks or fires detected. We are taking this incident with extreme seriousness and have learned a hard lesson that will not ever be forgotten.
WHAT WILL YOU USE THE MONEY FOR?
To pay our rent for a new facility, to pay our bills, install safe and certified gas lines, construction materials and most importantly to be able to continue with this amazing project that we are passionate about, our customers love, and bridges rural communities with our local economy.
CryptoCurrency Donation
We also are accepting donations in cryptocurrencies and will make sure your contribution gets registered on the GofundMe page as an offline contribution, thanks for your support!
Bitcoin(BTC)
1CmX8YRHWdptJDVke9nLNmXFef3rqTwBJJ
Ether(ETH)
0x9ae5A6c2844b35B552ca25a383ED95Cd8E0140B4
BitcoinCash(BCH)
qzq3f4j5xydaq5nx3te2xmee6n2hnvn8mgaj9yhpfm
Secure Contact
For further information or if you would like to contact me securely regarding this campaign and project please don't hesitate to contact me:
[email redacted] (PGP key ID 3E1846E3AC225480)
http://alex.luhrman.org
https://keybase.io/alexluhrman