Miguel Uribe, Tierra Viviente, Uruapan, Mexico
Series Title
Food For Thought
Contributor
Jennifer Bell, Host
Miguel Uribe, Interviewee
Jessica Eden, Engineer
Episode Description
Recently I started making my own tortillas. I bought a super sweet tortilla press from a friend in Eureka, Teo, — her father makes them in his wood shop and the tortilla press glows as it makes super delicious tortillas. And here’s the thing that I find fascinating — buying pre-made tortillas is really inexpensive, but making your own tortillas? Let’s try 3.5 cents each.
So when I interviewed Miguel Uribe about his farm, Tierra Viviente — I was intrigued by the story of this beautiful high altitude farm. The altitude is high there and it takes 10 months to bring in a crop of sweet corn that is then turned into masa. If you have grown corn closer to sea level, you know that corn doesn’t normally take that long to produce an edible crop. But there, in the heights of the mountains, without all of the fertilizers that western farmers have become used to, in the cradle where corn was born, the crop takes 10 months.
With an entire year of labor placed into one crop the risk for the farmers and community is enormous. Once harvested, the chance to sell their crop is dashed by the cheap corn that is already on the market. Farmers are lucky to break even.
When I heard about Miguel’s crop I was salivating to get a chance to turn that corn into masa for my own new tortilla press. Rather than paying the $2.60 for a 9 lb sack of masa — I would be willing to pay $20 or more. Do you see it coming? In trying to help the dilemma of this region, and a true desire to sample this ancient corn, I might actually price the local people out of their own staple food.
Certainly I don’t know the answer, but I’m sure it isn’t a simple answer either. I do believe we need to think carefully about food systems, and how farmers all over the world including those in our own back yard can receive an equitable price that allows them to have the same standard of living that I do.
Broadcast Date
2017
Genre/Subject
Corn
Publisher
KHSU
Filename
FFT_Miguel_Uribe1_Native_Corn.mp3; FFT_Miguel_Uribe2_Native_Corn.mp3
Language
English
Digital Format
Audio/MP3
File Size
21.9 MB; 24.5 MB
Duration
00:09:33; 00:10:42
Generation
Copy
Collection
KHSU
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Recommended Citation
"Miguel Uribe, Tierra Viviente, Uruapan, Mexico" (2017). Food for Thought. 109.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/foodforthought/109