In January 2023, with the invaluable support of the USANA Foundation, International Relief Teams launched a pilot program to distribute Garden Towers in San Quintin, Baja California, Mexico.
Garden Towers are simple solutions that provide sustainable, nutritious food, especially for people with limited access to land and water. They are made from a long-lasting, durable material. Each tower can hold up to 120 plants and can be harvested year-round.
Through the first few months, several community stakeholders partnered to assist in the success of the project. Two universities agreed to provide student interns to work at the greenhouse and throughout the community to ensure the plants were grown properly and the families who received them learned how to care for them. In addition, local farmers were invited to join the project, sharing agricultural technologies and expertise and donating soil, compost, and other much-needed resources.
Today, International Relief Teams has its own greenhouse and is providing a large number of families in San Quintin the seedlings they need to start their own food gardens. Many families have already improved their nutritional intake with the vegetables they have grown, and others are even selling their excess produce to neighbors, generating additional revenue for the family.
We are committed to providing sustainable food solutions to San Quintin and will be expanding the programs to new families in the coming months.
