One of the most outstanding agricultural projects in Mexico within the framework of Earth Day is the one promoted by Heineken Mexico and CIMMYT “Cultivando Un México Mejor”, which seeks to guarantee sustainable water management from agriculture, particularly in barley cultivation.
This project provides producers with the necessary tools based on conservation agriculture, so that they can make better decisions in their harvest and, in this way, reduce production costs, obtain more stable yields in extreme climates and, mainly, conserve resources. natural soil and biodiversity.
In an interview with Jelle Van Loon, associate director of CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems Program and Laila Navarro, Heineken Mexico production raw material supply manager, dr. Jellen Van Loon commented that sustainable agricultural techniques have been able to save 860,000 m3 of water, which is equivalent to 250 Olympic swimming pools, considering that an Olympic swimming pool requires an average of 3,375,000 liters of water, according to the International Swimming Federation.
In addition, 21 barley producers have been certified, who worked a total of 9,422 hectares under the conservation agriculture technique that resulted in 31,718 harvested tons.
“We have a series of actions that seek to sensitize the producer to do more with less and take into account how their practices have an impact on the environment, which must also have a cost-benefit relationship for their understanding and reduce the water footprint in the barley production in central Mexico, especially the soil of Guanajuato” highlighted Jellen Van Loon.
