A major health crisis is what motivated Jaime Navarro into organic farming and probiotic beverages.
Living in Guadalajara with his wife Sara, Navarro was in his late 40s and at the peak of his career as an academic consultant and research professor at the Tecnológico de Monterrey University in Guadalajara when he was diagnosed with stage-one prostate cancer. His urologist told him he had two choices: opt for standard medical treatments or make a radical lifestyle change. He chose the latter.
It was then that Navarro decided to learn all about organic agriculture, how to grow organic produce, and find a more sustainable place to live.
“I wanted to see if I could live off alternative medicine and eat only organic food, which was very hard to find in Guadalajara at that time.”
Navarro heard about the Lakeside community in 2004 and how the foreign population was all about reinventing themselves. With an enthusiasm for longevity, healthy eating, community, sustainability and nature, he saw that he could have all of these living at Lakeside, surrounded by others who were of like-mind.
After three years of traveling back and forth from Guadalajara, he and Sara moved to their new Lakeside community in 2008.
“My immediate goal was to build a greenhouse where I could grow certified organic vegetables,” says Navarro.
He found just the place: a stretch of land alongside Lake Chapala in west Ajijic.
Navarro was fortunate to receive the needed funds to build his greenhouse. “I attended a conference on Mexico-Israeli agricultural relationships, resulting from a free-trade agreement between the two countries. Once I incorporated Rancho La Salud, my rural agricultural company, I applied for and received a grant from the Israeli government to build my greenhouse, and was introduced to the organic world through Israeli experts in the field.”
Besides farming the land, he and Sara realized they also wanted to live on it.
“Our vision was to create a sustainable community,” he says. “We wanted to share our knowledge of probiotics and organically-grown food with others and be part of a healthy lifestyle in a family-like manner.”
Navarro was introduced to the co-housing concept in 2010 when he met a sustainable architect living in Ajijic.
“Rick Cowlishaw co-designed our community, located across the highway from the farm,” he says. “We included an educational content and utilized local, non-toxic Mexican materials.” Along with Navarro and his wife, one other couple resides in their emerging community.
At some point, Navarro saw that simply growing vegetables wasn’t enough. “I wanted to know about the particular characteristics of these plants; to discover their anti-inflammatory aspects in order to fully heal.”
During his research, he found that India had one of the lowest rates of prostate and breast cancers. He contacted researchers at the Indian Spice Institute, who suggested that he add turmeric, ginger and moringa to his diet. “I started growing these plants,” he says, “but it took me a few years to learn how to grow them efficiently and certify them organically.”
Next, Navarro learned about fermentation and probiotics and how to turn his plants into probiotic beverages. After spending a year in a business incubator program at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, he launched Coxala, his organic probiotic brewing company that produces bottled ginger beer and turmeric brew tonic.
In March 2017, Mexico’s Ministry of Agriculture granted Navarro a scholarship to be part of a trade fair in Guadalajara in order to give his business more exposure. To get support from the ministry, he needed to have a legitimate label informing the public of his beverage’s contents.
“Once I got licensed, I started selling locally on a small scale. I’ve since expanded sales throughout all of Jalisco, with plans to sell nationwide. My challenge is to find a distributor, along with refrigerated trucks to transport our beverages.”
Recently, Navarro was approached by the Tlajomulco Institute of Technology to serve as a school farm for agro-biotechnology students.
“Since I’m the only one in Jalisco growing roots organically and extracting the juices to create probiotic beverages, “ said Navarro. “The institute wants to study this process in detail from a scientific perspective. Students use my farm to conduct experiments, take soil measurements, observe microbial life and transform plants into health products. We’re in the process of drafting the bylaws as to how this is going to work fairly for all parties.”
Currently, the Institute of Technology is focusing solely on the turmeric tonic properties. Samples have been taken and are being tested in the lab to make sure they contain all the probiotic properties that Navarro claims they have.
“We’re at the edge of a new way of feeding ourselves through more advanced biotech foods,” Navarro says. “This isn’t about genetically modified foods, it’s about extracting the active healing ingredients of these organic plants and making them more readily available. At 61, my health has increased significantly from my changed lifestyle. I strongly believe that we need to distribute probiotics to those who aren’t exposed to them; those who don’t have access to good nutrition. Eventually, we want to reach all those populations.”
El Rancho La Salud is open for tours. For information, email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..