I trained in 1975 with Warren Pierce, at Ecology Action in Santa Barbara California in preparation for a 2 year stint in Guatemala. The program was the first Sustainable Agriculture program to address organic farming in developing countries on a village level.

The 6 month intensive training program in Sustainable agriculture was based on Alan Chadwick’s principles. Warren Pierce had trained with Mr. Chadwick, for 5 years in French Intensive Biodynamic Gardening, a synthesis of French market farming and Rudolf Steiner’s Biodynamic Farming concepts.

I then spent 2 years in the low-land jungles of Guatemala growing vegetables organically, selling seeds, giving classes and testing out the methods in the Ixcan. The program morphed to focus on to a level of development sustainability incorporating concepts that were similar to Permaculture. Fruit, nut and hardwood trees became an integral part of the garden, expanding the vegetable garden to a more integrated ecosystem. In the lowland tropics removal of large trees and exposure of the soil rapidly leads to soil leaching of nutrients, the integrated method allowed for a continued mulching of the forest floor, maintenance of nutrients and development of humus.
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Lesley Miles