MEXICO - Daniel Cardenas Izabal Senior has always wanted to give back to his community and it seemed that the best place for him to start was with his own growing operation Daniel Cárdenas Cevallos Agricultores en Copropiedad in Costa Rica, Sinaloa, Mexico. Grown under the Tricar family of labels, the company produces slicer cucumbers, organic and conventional European cucumbers, bell peppers, mini bell peppers, and saladette tomatoes.
In November 2013, Daniel established El Porvenir (The Future) Community Program to begin addressing social change in growing operations throughout Mexico. The foundation of the program lies in four cornerstones: Education, Healthcare, Housing Facilities and Lodgings, and Social Development.
“I want to improve the quality of life for our field workers and their families,” he tells me. “I think that the more we address their concerns and their needs, the better off we will all be, and the generations to follow,” Mr. Cardenas Sr. tells me.
Daniel's son, Daniel Cárdenas Cevallos Jr., has been essential in implementing his father's Community Program Plan on the company’s five farms along with Lilia Carolina López Ceniceros, Corporate Responsibility Consultant. The team has been raising the productivity of the company while increasing the level of satisfaction of the employees since the program’s inception.
"In terms of education, we give families financial incentives for outstanding students with excellent grades. There are also daycares with brain stimulation programs based on the Philadelphia Method, to stimulate brain and physical development for children," Lilia tells me. "We ensure that all of our students get to school on time by providing them with safe transportation like school buses. We also promote art and physical education with a very successful after school program to nurture all aspects of their well-being."
El Porvenir works with the local foundation Estrella Guía IAP as well as local artist Esther Velazquez to help build the program and its effectiveness.
With health and wellness top of mind, Daniel has also worked to establish four medical centers in four field lodgings, making it easier on the company’s field workers to get fast medical assistance.
"We provide our workers with nutritious and balanced breakfasts and lunches for all the 700 children attending one of our four daycare centers and also stimulate worker attendance by giving them monthly food gift bags," Lilia continues.
Also an integral part of the mission to improve the quality of life for the company’s workers are Daniel’s efforts to improve worker housing. Through El Porvenir, Daniel has been able to offer housing facilities that have been built to provide safer and more comfortable accommodations for workers with better illumination and ventilation.
"As part of our 6 year plan we will build two sports courts for the leisure and health of teenagers and their parents,” Lilia notes. “Our social development programs help parents and children reach their potential by assisting them with training and education on a year round calendar – not just during the harvest season."
The program has presently been implemented in five of Daniel Cárdenas Cevallos Agricultores en Copropiedad’s field lodgings: El Porvenir, La Cuchilla, El Cafetal and Acapulco and Pantulis.
"Putting people first has proven to be such a success at all levels of the business. We took our workers opinions seriously when we designed this program, in order to create a long-term project that has clear objectives and indicators," Lilia tells me.
When I ask Lilia what the most important thing is that she would like the industry to know, she tells me, "People need to know about the most progressive programs that care for Mexican field workers. Like El Porvenir, a lot of our efforts as an industry get overshadowed by the negative. We just hope to increase awareness and help raise the bar."
Congrats to the team behind El Porvenir as we keep social responsibility top of mind.
