While living and working as a magazine editor and English teacher in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, Laurel Bellante learned of a woman-driven network of small, organic farmers who were advancing alternative food production niche markets.

Bellante, who has been following the network and other Mexican farmers and producers since 2005, found that the network’s members are contributing significantly to efforts to localize the growing, harvesting, sale and consumption of food in response to a growing industrialized food system.

In Chiapas, network members working at El Tianguis de Comida Sana y Cercana have been especially successful in negotiating competitive pricing for food, especially organic produce such as blue and white corn, ranch eggs and homemade tortillas, she said. 

The network also is providing buyers with timely and relevant information about food sources to advance consumer health and better access to healthful foods, she added.

Members have created participatory certification methods to promote clean, healthful and organic products, she found, and they regularly host culturally minded open-air markets to support local farmers and producers.