Alkymia Ethical Food

The state of Chiapas in Mexico has the lowest income per capita in the country. Chiapas’ population relies mainly on agriculture. Current agricultural production is not competitive, provides low margins and shows low levels of economic complexity. Deforestation is also a hazard due to non-regulated agriculture and cattle raising. Under these circumstances, Chiapas’ communities are economically vulnerable and food sources are not optimal. 

Alkymia ensures a long-term supply of sustainable produce by providing technical assistance and know-how to small-scale farming families in order to achieve high-quality products. Our agricultural model is based on sustainable farming methods and local techniques that will help improve the livelihoods of the community, develop local economies, restore natural ecosystems and reduce deforestation in the region. Globally, our solution provides know-how, creates food supply chain and provide economic prosperity by engaging small-scale farming families in rural areas. It also reduces the environmental impact of agriculture

Small-scale farmers in Mexico are not competitive. Their agricultural products provide low margins and show low levels of economic complexity. Given those elements, farming families tend to increase their agricultural zones to increase their incomes but in consequence aggravating deforestation and negatively impacting the environment. These communities are paid low due to low-quality products. One of the products that Alkymia focuses is cacao. At country level, there are approximately 37,966 cacao farming families. Alkymia Ethical Foods focuses on a regional scale across 5 states and working from Chiapas to focus on food supply chain value, local involvement, and sustainable agricultural techniques. Our solution will provide economic prosperity to vulnerable communities and fight deforestation in the region.

Alkymia Ethical Foods focuses on long-term collaboration schemes involving small-scale farming families. Our solution develops agroforestry systems that improve post-harvest quality of agricultural products. We use adaptable techniques that improve the agricultural value chain through fruit selection, fermentation, drying and storage. These techniques create high-quality agricultural products that provide sustainable and fair incomes to agricultural communities. Alkymia also helps reduce deforestation in the region by reducing agricultural zones. We buy their products in a direct trade way and we transfor cacao beans and elaborate chocolate using the other products like vanilla, cardamom and honey. 

Our solution focuses on small-scale farming families located in tropical ecosystems. Alkymia Ethical Foods develops advisory and training workshops using participatory action research methods. We involve the communities and jointly find the best solution for them according to local resources and techniques. Through this process, farming families reflect on their needs and feel empowered to take action for their local economies and the environment. These agroforestry systems also provide foreign sovereignty and food diversity since the techniques can be transferred to other agricultural products like cardamom, vanilla, coffee and honey. At the same time, our solution helps reduce economic vulnerability of our farming families. 

Small-scale farming families tend to live under poverty. They are a vulnerable sector of the population due to a lack of sustainable farming systems. Their agricultural products tend to be low-quality and are sold at low-prices. Given these low-prices, small-scale farming families tend to increase their agricultural zones and in consequence aggravate deforestation and increment environmental damage. These families also tend to have monocultives which puts them at higher risk of losing their income when their products are not sold. Our solution involves these communities, provides the necessary techniques to develop sustainable agricultural chains and helps reduce the environmental impact.

Our innovative solution focuses on long-term relationships with small-scale agricultural families. We use participatory action research methods for their involvement and education for best agricultural practices. Alkymia also uses sustainable agroforestry systems in the post-harving stage (fruit selection, fermentation, drying and storage) to create high-quality products and in consequence provide fair and sustainable incomes to the agricultural communities. These techniques can also be transferred to other agricultural products reducing the vulnerability of farming families that tend to have monocultures. At the same time, Alkymia helps fight deforestation and reduces the environmental impact created by agriculture. 

There are other model approaches like Askinosie Chocolate in Springfield, Missouri and Cuna de Piedra in Mexico. But these competitors do not focus on education, advisory and empowerment of small-scale farming communities. Our solution aims to provide sovereignty and independence to these communities to address their needs. Evenmore, it focuses on the creation of new techniques and agricultural knowledge that will result from our partnership with local farming families. Finally, our solution also addresses the environmental impact of agriculture and reduces deforestation by using sustainable techniques.

Our main technology is the fermentation of post-harvested agricultural products. We have tried this technique in cacao. The fermentation of an agricultural product has an effect at the molecular level that improves its quality. For example, cacao seeds develop high-levels of antioxidants, flavonoids, polyphenols and alkaloids. Our unique fermentation process occurs through microorganism found in the fields. This technique is low-cost but it has an exponential impact in the agriculture value chain and final product. A high-quality product that helps farming families with their incomes, is sustainable and reduces the environmental impact of agriculture.

Find below several examples to academic papers and research that provide evidence on how Alkymia technology works

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2019.1581726

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330716968_Formation_of_aromatic_compounds_precursors_during_fermentation_of_Criollo_and_Forastero_cocoa

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15462126/

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352550915000354?showall%3Dtrue#!

https://cocoainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Perceived-Impact-of-Cocoa-Innovation-of-the-Livelihoods.pdf

https://www.duchenne-spain.org/investigacion/esquema-virtual-de-posibilidades-de-tratamiento-para-dmd-dmb/corazon/epicatequina/

Alkymia establishes a long-term relationship with small-scale farming families. We first focus on knowing them and their agricultural needs. We provide advisory resources and techniques that aim to create sustainable products with low environmental impact. Our solution helps these families to receive fair and just incomes for their work. It prepares them with know-how to continue producing high-quality products. In the long-run, those techniques are transferable to other agricultural products. We also help reduce negative environmental impact by using sustainable agricultural techniques that reduce deforestation in the region while reducing agriculture areas.

One example of succes in our long term collaboration. Family Magaña Peralta in Tabasco. They are focusing in grow ancient cacao varieties in agroforestry system and developing postharvers area, they are small family and women are driving the process. last year they won the prize of best cacao criollo in mexico wtih sustainable manage. nowdays we are working to improve monitoring of fermentation proccess and drying of cacao postharvesting.

Evidence of our statements can be found in links below

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226974370_Ecological_economic_and_social_perspectives_on_cocoa_production_worldwide

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/239576371_Cacao_Cultivation_and_the_Conservation_of_Biological_Diversity

https://readcacao.com/blog/why-choose-bean-to-bar-craft-chocolate/

Currently, we work with 35 small-scale agriculture families in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco. Our agricultural products are sold to around 700 clients.  

Our objective is to increase the number of families from 35 to 50 in one year. 

Our 5 year goal is to collaborate with 100 farming families

Our main impact goal in the first year is to improve the quality of the crops and standardized our agricultural processes and products. We will achieve it through an iterative process and monthly workshops with small-scale farming families. We will also improve our infrastructure by reinvesting the profits of our sales. 

Our 5-year impact goals are:

1. Establishing Alkymia Ethical Foods as an innovator in sustainable agricultural techniques to continue creating environmentally friendly processes that reduce negative impact  and to have 1500 costumers of chocolate and our other agroforestry products.

2. Collaborate with at least 100 small-scale families in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco to reduce their economic vulnerability and empower them through ethical and environmental agriculture activities. 

3. Create long-term relationships with small-scale families and their communities in order to transfer their knowledge to other products and diversify agriculture in the region in a sustainable way. 

Currently, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a major barrier to continue establishing our long-term relationship with small-scale agricultural families. We have not been able to visit them in the fields. 

Before COVID-19, we have been limited by an adequate space to produce and transform the agricultural products. San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, is a rural area with few resources. 

Financially, we started Alkymia with our savings. And we are currently looking for investors in our project. Primarily, we have realized that investors do not realize the added value of high-quality agricultural products. They want high-returns with low-investments. Also fast returns. Our processes take time but deliver high-quality products. 

In five years, our barriers could be the following:

1. Our main barrier is finance. In order to develop our project we will require 

6,000 DLS - We will create areas for fermentation, drying and storage of agricultural products.

6,000 DLS - Rent a proper space, buy and instal infrastructure and equipment to process agricultural products.

Culturally, consumers in Mexico are just starting to buy high-quality agricultural products that come from sustainable processes. It will be a process of education of the consumer. Internationally, there is more knowledge, however Mexican agricultural products like cacao are not necessarily known for their high-quality. 

In order to fight our current main barrier, COVID-19, we are developing an online store to continue selling the agricultural products and continue financing our project. We are also working on a technological strategy that allows us to communicate remotely with our farming families. For Alkymia, it is extremely important to continue building and establishing our long-term relationships with the local farmers. We are also providing some financial help to the farming families by giving them advance allowances from the sell of the products. 

In order to address our financial barrier, we are constantly looking for investors that believe in sustainable and environmentally friendly products. We also reinvest our profits. 

Regarding technical barriers, we are currently looking for a better space that suits our needs for product processing and storage. Two main steps in our post-harvest scheme. 

With regards to cultural barriers, we are organizing events and conference to discuss about Alkymia and the project that we have with small-scale farming families. We are doing it nationally and internationally. These events have been a great way to acquire new customers and we have collaborated with international organizations such as the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (FCCI).

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Alkymia Ethical Food has 4 full-time staff, 1 part-time staff and 35 small-scale farming families

Julio Salazar "Yolas", Founder - Julio holds a bachelor in biology and a master in Management of Natural Resources and Rural Development. Julio is passionate about Mexico, its people and its vast environmental resources. He is originally from Mexico City but moved to Chiapas to help one of the most vulnerable sectors of the population through this project. He focuses on the technical workshops and establishing the long-term relationships with the farming families. 

Rebecca Camilleri, Cofounder - Originally from Malta, Rebecca strongly believes on helping the most needed communities through ethical work and ethical agricultural products. Such passion made her move to Chiapas from Malta. She has focused mainly on developing the business side of the project. 

35 small-scale farming families - They are the main pillar of the project. They learn from us and we learn from them and their ancestral techniques. 

Leonardo Ruiz - He is in charge of evaluating the process and product quality. Through his creative skills as a photographer, Leonardo helps us document our field work and create a live journal of Alkymia. 

Antonio - He holds a bachelor in gastronomy. He is responsible of standardizing our processes and our infrastructure. 

Mauricio Jimenez, Creative Designer - Mauricio has created the packaging of our products and developed the marketing strategy. 

Alkymia Ethical Food currently has the following partnerships:

1) Alianza de cacaoteros de la selva in Chiapas. We worked closely with farming cooperatives to develop our long-term relationships. We focus on strengthening their capacities and expand their network.

2) Colegio de la Frontera Sur, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas: We believe that knowledge is power. Thus, we are continuously doing research papers and finding new sustainable agricultural techniques. We also organize events and conferences to communicate our work. 

3) Cafeologia: Our business partnership has focused on shops that believe in high-quality products that sustainable and environmentally friendly. 

Alkymia focuses on establishing long-term relationships with small-scale farming families. We use participatory action research methods for their involvement and education for best agricultural practices. Our use of sustainable agroforestry systems in the post-harvesting stage (fruit selection, fermentation, drying and storage) helps them create high-quality products. Such products, in consequence, provide fair and sustainable incomes to farming families. Alkymia helps them in the negotiaton process to establish pricing. These techniques can also be transferred to other agricultural products creating diversity in their crops and reducing the vulnerability of farming families that tend to have monocultures. At the same time, Alkymia helps fight deforestation and reduces the environmental impact created by agriculture.

Alkymia strongly believes in its mission of creating high-quality products that can provide an honorable way of living to small-scale farming communities. We believe that our world is intertwined and that any action that we take has a big impact in the environment. Thus, our innovative solution focuses on establishing a sustainable agriculture chain value from the starting point of  harvesting the crop, passing through the post-harvesting stage and processing a final product. 

Our main barrier has been changing the mentality towards sustainable and high-quality agriculture products. People tend to oversee all the hard work that farming involves and even the importance in our daily nutrition. Actually, COVID-19 has brought some light to this by bringing some attention to how vulnerable farming communities are and their paramount importance. SOLVE will contribute to confirming our mission and will provide us with a part of necessary funding that will be used to continue our work and grow to include even more farming families with the necessary resources and adequate spaces to process their products. 

The partnership goals include: 

• Improve the facilities for harvest and postharvesting stages, which directly involve the 32 families of  Chiapas, Tabasco and Oaxaca with whom we collaborate.
• Upgrade our equipment used for creation of our products.
• Create a brand positioning strategy 
• Increase sales revenue collaborations with at least 50 per cent. 
• Consolidate our research and education area

We would like to partner with Professor Fiona Murray from MIT Sloan School of Management and Co-Director of MIT Innovation Initiative, Associate Dean for Innovation. We would like to consult her expertise on how to accelerate entrepreneurship and build regional economies of scale. 

We would also like to learn more about the Media Lab’s Open Agriculture Initiative and collaborate in research with them, if possible. http://news.mit.edu/2019/algorithm-growing-agriculture-0403