AMANDA HARRIS: ORGANIC FARMER

While Gente Viva’s farm isn’t in Troncones, its presence is of utmost importance to the community. Gente Viva bridges the gap between mindful agricultural practices and on-the-go daily life by delivering baskets (canastas) of fresh, organic produce—straight to town every Thursday—making healthy ingredients for cooking both approachable and affordable. As Amanda describes it, “That’s good for visitors and townspeople alike, because when sustainability arrives via a reliable canasta, it becomes less of a gimmick, more of an everyday reality.”

Originally from Maryland, Amanda lives full time in Juluchuca at the base of a watershed that connects the diverse Sierra Madre mountains to the dynamic coastal ecosystem. On the farm, she is working with field environmentalists Daniel Palacios and Juan Vargas, and organic food advocates Geovanny Peñaloza and Naomi Garciamoreno, to build market opportunities for the network of agroecological producers that make up the Food Hub in Juluchuca. Alongside environmentalist Osmaira Hernandez, Amanda helped form the Juluchuca Women’s Cooperative, which produces organic products like turmeric, moringa, dried hibiscus flower, coconut oil and local tea blends.

LOT: How did the canasta program start and how has it evolved?

AH: We assumed everyone who wanted clean food was visiting the Eco Tianguis Sanka in Zihua on Saturdays. We were surprised to learn there were communities north of Zihua that did not know or visit the market. So, we saw that gap and reorganized our farming schedule to be able to deliver canastas to Troncones and Saladita once a week. The idea was to create a CSA model that supports the farm much like you would see in the US, but that did not take off here in the first two seasons. Again, we adjusted.

Now we deliver small boxes, for a household of one or two people, or a large box, for smoothie-and-salad type homes and/or homes with guests in town—every Thursday—to 25 households from Zihua to Saladita. We ask for a minimum of ten canastas from each community to make the roundtrip drive worth the day out of the fields. Our goal this season, in 2026, is to reach 45 households and our production will surpass that based on years of hard work. Our canastas feature fresh veggies and fruits—free of pesticides, herbicides—and full of genuine care and kindness from the soils of our watershed.

LOT: What makes you proud of Gente Viva’s regenerative farm?

AH: The growth of the space and, most importantly, the people involved. When I arrived in 2018, a team of four men managed roads and paths inside Playa Viva and produced a small basket of food a week that was delivered to the hotel. Today, one of those young men is our farm manager, leading a team of 15 men and women farmers, international volunteers and students, and taking an average of 1000 visitors for farm tours each year. Working together, we produce intensively and regeneratively on 3 hectares today and harvest literal tons of food that is distributed to 6 hotels, 25 households and a thriving farmers market in Zihua year-round. We have fun doing it, we take time to rest in the slow moments and work hard under the Mexican sun, day after day. The people here have become family, laughing through the big harvests and hardest days, and leaving with nutrient-dense food in hand to share with their families, too. 

LOT: How did the women’s cooperative in Juluchuca form? What does it produce?

Oh, Doña Gaby. She’s a woman who became my Latina mother overnight. I spent much of my first two years in Juluchuca, in Gaby's house, observing the role of a woman in a small rural community and listening to her and her daughter's desires for just a little bit more to do with their time. I asked Gaby if she would be interested in helping me cold-press coconut oil for a customer and her leadership and creativity bloomed. Overnight she had a team of young women eager to engage in a new process and activity. We built a small oil press; Gaby turned her home and kitchen into a processing center and the efficiency of her setup and flow really stood out. Coconut oil became our best-selling product in a season. 

It was Gaby and her daughter, Yadira, who started teaching me more about the use of ancient, native plants as medicine in the local community. We experimented with drying moringa leaves, which are known for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits, like boosting liver, heart, and skin health and managing blood pressure and cholesterol. Now, Moringa Machas and Moringaladas are a favorite of Playa Viva guests. We brought turmeric down from the Sierras and processed it in response to high incidence of inflammation in the community, and we now engage six different farming families in the community to produce fresh Jamaica flowers each rainy season. This product, which is known to help regulate blood sugar, is processed by the growing Women's Cooperative and distributed from Guerrero to CDMX. 

Today, the Cooperative is a community of 8 women. They’ve rehabilitated an old comedor (dining hall) in the Juluchuca community that has brought life back to a quiet corner of the pueblo. We would be happy to give you a tour of town on your farm tour visit; and the young women in the Cooperative host a really fun team making workshop that will leave you the most connected to the plants of this region. 

LOT: How can someone visiting or living in Troncones sign up for the Canasta Viva deliveries, and what might be in a typical basket this season?

AH: Reach out to Naomi by email or text [naomi@genteviva.mx or +52.722.247.5561]. We deliver to Troncones every Thursday at 1 pm. We are finishing up a Canasta Viva flier and our website will be up and running in mid-October. In the meantime, follow us on Instagram for daily updates [@gente_viva_permacultura].

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The Canasta Viva has a few staple ingredients which you find year-round: dark leafy greens like kale and swiss chard; fresh lettuce hard to grow in these hot conditions; microgreens and sprouts (for salads and smoothies); fresh herbs; papaya and platano. Seasonally, we add on the abundance from the land and the watershed, to include: cucumbers, heirloom tomatoes, squash, citrus including limes, grapefruit and star fruit; coconuts, melon, corn and my favorite, maracuya.

We also offer add-ons that go with the rest of our produce, essentials such as local farm raised pork (loin, ribs, shoulder) and the incredible natural products processed and packaged by the women's co-op such as: turmeric and moringa powder; dried Jamaica flower; tea blends; criollo chocolate from the Sierras and some of Guerrero's best-kept secret, coffee beans.

LOT: Are there upcoming workshops, farm tours, or permaculture intensives open to the public?

AH: We give farm tours twice a week year-round. They are most comfortable from 10 am to 12 pm. We go around the farm in the back of a truck and they’re even better when they’re paired with breakfast before, or lunch after, at the Playa Viva hotel. It’s a great day trip from Troncones. We highly encourage you to bring friends and family when they are in town visiting, and to explore Guerrero's coast on your own. Naomi can help you set up a day pass at the hotel that includes a tour of the farm and set out some sights for you to visit if your day allows.

At the moment, we are hard at work building our business and our forests—those are our priorities—so we do not have any workshops planned this coming calendar year. If we find there’s interest, we can organize a small workshop around permaculture design, agroforestry, tea making with the Women's Cooperative, or we can install garden beds for home gardening. Those would require a minimum of 10 participants. It’s something we can do without too much fuss. It’d only take a couple phone calls or emails to organize those for your community. Anyone interested can reach out to Amanda or Naomi on social for more information. Our workshops are in English, Spanish, or both, to make sure we all keep learning.

LOT: What’s one thing you wish more people understood about regenerative farming or gardening in this region?

AH: Farming in Guerrero is hard. They’re easily the hardest conditions I have grown in during my 17 years in the field. There is salt in the soil, water and air. We vacillate between dry, dry soil and monsoon conditions right before the start of the planting season. We have seen entire fields washed away from late summer rains in recent years, setting our production back months in a very short “high season” window. 

Agriculture workers in Mexico make around $8 to $10 USD per day [less than $200 MXN] and are often the only person working in their households. Our farmers are paid at least twice the minimum wage salary in the region and are supplemented with a basket of farm fresh food each week for themselves and their families. We developed a bonus structure for the farm team based on sales goals and accomplishments; and our workers manage their own microlending program in their community to develop financial literacy and independence. 

Every purchase you make from our farm and Cooperative is so much more than a cucumber in your salad that evening. It supports our work of developing a bioregional food system and shows the people involved in the process that this work is valuable and appreciated by others. 

Most days here can be harsh, the sun high and hot. The people and farmers of Guerrero climb on the back of their motorbikes with a sombrero and a smile and remind me of the important things in life as we cultivate the soil and the community together.

LOT: Anything new on the horizon for Gente Viva or the farm program in general?

AH: We would love to know what the community needs and wants. We are happy to guide and promote farming workshops in Troncones and the greater Guerrero if there is a need for it. We cannot reinforce enough the power of coming to visit our farm and meet our team. Make it a Thursday or Friday and you will find the tables at the bodega piled high with colorful food for distribution, and you’ll come away with great photos.

Why Gente Viva Matters

– It’s real regenerative farming. More than just organic, the farm rebuilds water cycles and soil health through agroforestry, homemade fertilizers, dynamic composting systems and syntropic agriculture techniques.

– It’s community power. Revenue from the resort supports local education, permaculture training, and sustainable livelihoods. Funded in part by resort guests, Amanda’s team works directly with farming families and creates opportunity for the workforce to continue to cultivate systems of regenerative agriculture.

– It’s real access to organic food. The weekly Canasta Viva deliveries allow Troncones to eat seasonally and sustainably, supporting farmers and bypassing tourist-markup chains. It’s about health, freshness, and keeping money close to home.

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https://www.instagram.com/genteviva_permacultura/

https://www.playaviva.com/es/blog/farm-to-table

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