On the most basic level, many problems such as malnutrition, diminishing fishing industry in Lake Chapala, inadequate access to land and water for home gardens, the declining fertility of the soil and water contamination, are solvable. The widespread use of chemical pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers in almost all the commercial fields are leaving un-trained laborers unprotected, exposed to dangerous chemical substances that are endangering their health.



The widespread reliance on these “wonder products” has caused the local farmers to abandon, even lose their understanding, of older, more ecologically sound farming practices.



Finally, the resulting ecological imbalance of the land and the destruction of many beneficial plants, insects and other organisms has resulted in plant diseases heretofore unknown in the area. The health of the land, its crops and people is further compromised by a diminishing water supply brought on by years of drought and the serious overuse of Lake Chapala water for the metropolis of Guadalajara.



In August of 1996 Hill and Pruden started planning an independent, self sustaining horticultural project that would be accessible to a wider rural and urban population, one that would prepare youths, families and farmers from many Mexican communities [regardless of their religious affiliation or locality], with training in organic farming, food production, and water and environmental conservation. They found support from a small body of equally concerned lakeside citizens and, on April 24, 1997, they incorporated a six-member board of directors as the Asociación Comunitaria de Autosuficiencia, A.C.