Mónica G. Morales-Mendoza1
Obeimar B. Herrera1*
María Lorena Soto-Pinto1
Carla Zamora-Lomeli1
Pablo Pérez-Akaki2- 1Departamento de Agricultura Sociedad y Ambiente, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur unidad San Cristóbal, Carretera Panamericana y Periférico Sur s/n Barrio María Auxiliadora, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico
- 2Escuela de Negocios, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico
The objective of the research was to identify the values that indigenous coffee peasant households live and analyse why organized indigenous peasant households continue to produce organic and fair-trade coffee despite the cyclical problems and economic challenges. This research is based on a qualitative approach using participant observation with field notes; mixed interviews such as in-depth semi-structured interviews with a dialogical approach; images; and social cartography to identify symbolism. The results show the values that peasant families live by and the reasons for continuing and preserving organic coffee cultivation in the Tzeltal coffee-growing region of Chiapas: symbolic and intangible values such as the value of legacy, the coffee-growing tradition, the eternal rest of family members in the coffee plantation, the hedonic values in the management of the coffee agroecosystem and love for the land, as well as collective work. In addition, the tangible values of use and exchange were identified for the annual economic income represented by the collective sale of the crop. These values, as part of the socio-cultural component in coffee production, are a central axis in the agroecological transition because they strengthen the principles of agroecology.
1 Introduction
Research conducted on the productivity and cost-benefits of the coffee agroecosystem has identified that small-scale coffee production is not profitable for peasant farmers. As demonstrated by Siles et al. (2022), the income generated from these agroecosystems is inadequate to ensure the sustainability of peasant households.
The prevailing paradigm with a productivist vision is characterised by intensive production systems with maximum plant density, high use of inputs, machinery, genetically modified seeds, and the absence of shade, as exemplified by cultivation systems in countries such as Brazil (Arabica), Vietnam (Robusta), Costa Rica, and Colombia (International Coffee Organization, 2025). These systems are associated with high energy and environmental costs and are vulnerable to the cyclical phenomena of climate variability and pests.
The study of values is commonly portrayed as an expression of the relationships between the environment and the cultural context as an elemental art of ecosystem well-being and biodiversity (Corraliza and Berenguer, 2000). Such studies depict values as a form of perceiving the world and its interaction with nature (Gray, 1985).
The concept of value encompasses two dimensions in any culture, ranging from self-interest to self-transcendence or altruism (Schwartz, 1992). According to Raymond et al. (2023), values indicate a broad sense of prosperity, belonging, management or uniqueness.
García del Hoyo and Jiménez de Madariaga (2015) suggest that ‘value represents a symbolic interpretation and that price is the result of a negotiation between parties’. This assertion suggests that ‘value is a social construction that is constantly subject to processes of change and redefinition – a cultural concept that can neither be considered objective nor universal’.
It is acknowledged that exchange value is synonymous with price and is indicative of the exchange of goods or services, with price itself being the consequence of the exchange of money. The cultural dimension is pivotal in delineating the social value of goods, wherein economic value and cultural symbolic value coexist (García del Hoyo and Jiménez de Madariaga, 2015).
To understand social phenomena or value from local and indigenous perspectives, it is necessary to consider the human aspect, which is approached through anthropology, ethnography, and the concept of value (Cataingts, 2002). The interpretation of use value and exchange in subjective and objective terms involves needs, prices, production, costs, scarcity, the fair price and the market. Therefore, within the framework of value theory, the concept of use value (Marx, 1867) is revisited in the context of merchandise for the utility and workforce provided by the coffee-growing peasant household.
The values that connect human beings with nature in indigenous peoples or local communities are elements that constitute the basis for a good life. To elaborate further, global studies were identified on traditional knowledge, human-nature relational values in agroecosystems, or interactions with plants or forests, such as those by Monroy Sais et al., 2022, and Fuente-Cid et al., 2025.
Another concept that has been identified is that of legacy value, defined as the personal or social benefit received by the present generation for leaving a resource for the enjoyment or use of future generations (Campos Palacín, 1994), a common concept within agroforestry systems.
It has been established that in the coffee-growing territories inhabited by indigenous and rural peoples in the Altos de Chiapas (Highlands of Chiapas) and other regions of Mexico, complex systems persist that offer a variety of products and services to families which are consistent with the rural way of life (Soto Pinto, 2019).
Consequently, as an economic, social, and environmental alternative to conventional farming, differentiated production systems such as organic, fairtrade, and other certifications were developed. Nevertheless, the economic advantages of coffee certification are evident among those involved in the collection, marketing and enhancement of coffee, but are less apparent when it comes to demonstrating the wellbeing of small producers (Jena et al., 2022).
Organic and fairtrade coffee farms that use agroecological practices aimed at achieving quality and protecting the environment provide greater social, environmental and productive benefits over the long term than conventional coffee farms (CERTIMEX, 1998).
As regards environmental biotic factors, the soil is considered a key element of organic or sustainable agriculture, which considers biological, chemical, and physical components and processes with three key attributes: productivity, stability, and resilience (Astier-Calderón et al., 2002).
The coffee agroecosystem observed in Tenejapa, Chiapas, has been classified by Escamilla Prado et al. (1994) as traditional polyculture, characterised by cafetales with natural and introduced shade. In this case, the shade was introduced, and only a limited number of natural trees were identified.
Here are some data on polyculture systems and diversification over different time periods:
In 2000, a traditional polyculture agroecosystem with 61 useful species of shade trees and weeds was reported in the Tzeltal village of Chilón in northern Chiapas. These species were utilised for various purposes, including providing food, firewood, materials for construction and handicrafts, medicinal plants, shade, rubber and seasoning, as well as for domestic applications such as mushrooms. They also provided other services (Soto-Pinto et al., 2000). Sufficient firewood for self-consumption was reported at that time, as well as plants from the Araceae and Cycaceae families, epiphytes, bromeliads, ferns and orchids.
In 2005, an organic coffee agroecosystem was identified throughout Chiapas. This system had an average of 8.6 tree species and 256–524 shade trees per hectare for coffee trees. These trees provide essential environmental services (Escamilla Prado et al., 2005).
According to another classification, traditional polyculture develops in native forests and includes fruit trees, medicinal plants and fodder plants. Native trees used for shade are frequently replaced by trees of commercial interest, such as banana and avocado (Moguel and Toledo, 1999). However, due to the absence of native trees, the trend in the region of our study is towards commercial polyculture under shade.
However, there is a paucity of literature on the values of indigenous peoples such as the Tzeltal Mayan communities of Chiapas. In these communities, agroecology is effectively integrated through traditional agricultural practices which are fundamental to the adoption of new practices, innovation, and crop maintenance.
It is therefore vital to analyse the other symbolic values of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas that motivate them to continue producing coffee, despite the challenges they face, such as recurring cycles of low prices and small-scale land tenure for coffee production using agroecological practices. The following research presents the perspective of the Tzeltal indigenous people of the municipality of Tenejapa, Chiapas, whose main productive and economic activity is coffee production.
In this regard, the principal aim of this research was to identify the values and motivations that promote organic coffee cultivation from the perspective of coffee-growing households and their contribution to livelihood strategies in Chiapas. Life strategies for sustainable living, organic coffee farming and fair trade bring greater long-term benefits to coffee-growing families, as they integrate socio-cultural aspects through tangible and intangible values, in addition to economic and environmental-productive components.
The historical account of their ancestors in Tenejapa highlights their agricultural legacy, emphasising their expertise in coffee production and their capacity to adapt crops to the specific environmental conditions of the land. The cultivation of peanuts and sugarcane was a long-standing agricultural practice in the region. Since the 1970s, coffee production has witnessed significant growth and the strengthening of economic nexuses as its development was supported by the Mexican government through its coffee policies (Parra Vázquez and Moguel Viveros, 1998).
According to Personal Communications (2023), coffee production in Highlands of Chiapas was introduced by farmers who worked seasonally in the Soconusco and Sierra Madre regions of Chiapas. Although coffee production is not always well remunerated due to cyclical problems such as unpredictable price fluctuations, pests and adverse climate events, it ensures an annual income and highlights the importance of coffee in the household economy.
The study region is located in the municipality of Tenejapa, Chiapas, and is part of the Altos de Chiapas region. This municipality has 65 localities with a population of 96,328 inhabitants, of whom 25% are economically active (INEGI, 2020). The climate in the study region is semi-hot and humid with abundant rainfall in summer, with temperatures ranging from 12 to 22°C. The altitude ranges from 800 to 2700 m.
Land use is 49.86% for agriculture, 49.55% for forestry, and 0.59% for urban areas. The municipality contributes 3,272 ha of coffee production (SIAP, 2024) out of a total of 219,383 ha in the state of Chiapas (INEGI, 2023), and approximately 10% of the population is engaged in coffee production.
Based on the Mayan worldview in the Altos de Chiapas, the Tzeltal town of Oxchuc has its own conception of living territory, where people of lineage, the land, and nature have a strong relationship (Sántiz-Gómez, 2015). Accordingly, humans are part of the land, nature, and the spiritual.
In the case of the coffee-growing territory of the Altos de Chiapas, the concept of household consists of cultural, social, productive and even affective elements. It is identified as a group comprising an extended family — generally up to three generations of patrilineal descent — that is collectively recognised, shares a living space and cultural patterns, and has strong emotional ties. Additionally, the group carries out both agricultural and non-agricultural work, independently manages resources, and forms the basis for community organisation and marketing (Ixtacuy López and Parra Vázquez, 2005; Trujillo Olivera et al., 2008; Cervantes Trejo et al., 2017; Sántiz Gómez and Parra Vázquez, 2018).
Peasant coffee-growing families in Mesoamerica are engaged in the production of coffee and traditional milpa. In the case of the Tzeltal region of Chiapas, coffee production is undertaken in conjunction with milpa cultivation following the renewal of coffee trees. The milpa is associated with use value as this resource is used as subsistence farming, while coffee is related with exchange value, given that it provides a secure annual economic income and as expressed by some households, a source of monetary savings.
The milpa is defined as a polyculture agroecosystem in either continuous or rotational mode, in which the primary crop is maize, associated principally with beans, chilli and squash, and to a lesser extent with trees and herbaceous plants, yucca, palms and tubers (Benítez et al., 2020; Soto-Pinto et al., 2022).
2 Methods
The research is framed as a case study, specifically a critical case study, as it provides a favourable scenario for confirming the key proposition in the study (Giménez, 2012): the presence of other values in coffee farming that allow it to be maintained despite cycles of low coffee bean prices. For this purpose, in-depth interviews, surveys, social mapping, and participant observation were used, which allowed for the cross-referencing of information and provided space for life stories that robustly support values as a social phenomenon in a real-life context (Gerring, 2007; Yin, 2009). The result is a critical case study co-designed with the cooperative’s management, analysed intensively and with cross-referenced information.
For the purposes of this research, a cooperative producing organic and fairtrade coffee was identified and the coffee-growing households were categorised. The unit of analysis is the coffee-farming household that chooses to continue with coffee production, thereby ensuring its intergenerational permanency, and furthermore, sustain and transfer values.
Work with indigenous peoples must follow protocols for agreements and presentation of the research project and results. These agreements were made at the cooperative and family levels. The research design was developed with feedback from the cooperative’s management and technical staff. Research tools such as the mixed research questionnaire guide, audio recordings, image capture, quick surveys and social mapping were presented and feedback was provided. Working hours were also agreed at the cooperative level, excluding the harvest months from December to March.
The participating coffee organisation has 155 members, 18% of whom are women (Personal Communications (2023)). The members are distributed across three municipalities: Chelnalhó, San Juan Cancuc and Tenejapa. The researchers and the cooperative decided to approach producers only from the municipality of Tenejapa due to social and territorial conflicts in the other two municipalities.
We proposed for the selection of the families participating in the research the phases of the family development cycle (Fortes, 1969) because family members participate in different processes of the production and post-harvest chain according to their age, availability, and skills.
The paradigm of the domestic group development cycle has been used to classify families into three phases according to Fortes (1969):
1. The initial phase of the family cycle is known as the “expansion phase”. This phase commences at the initiation of the marital union between two individuals and concludes at the cessation of the family’s reproductive capacity. The biological limit is defined as the duration of the wife’s fertility. This period is characterised by the economic and legal interdependence of parents and their descendants.
2. The second phase is the “dispersion” or “separation phase”. Timewise, this phase overlaps the initial phase. The sequence of events commences with the matrimony of the eldest offspring and persists until the union of all the children. In this phase, as dictated by custom, the youngest child assumes leadership of the family unit, irrespective of its current juncture. This event signifies the commencement of the following phase.
3. The final phase is known as the “replacement phase”. It is characterised by the death of the parents and the replacement of the social structure of the family that the parents founded with the families of their own children.
Regarding the instruments, in-depth interviews, participant observation, social cartography and quick surveys were used, which are described below.
Five in-depth interviews were conducted between June and November 2024 with peasant coffee-growing families-, which were carried out in the form of dialogues at the homes of coffee-growing households and within the cafetales. In addition, five surveys were conducted in March 2025 to the same family members to confirm the tangible and intangible values expressed in the in-depth interviews and images. The values corroborated were environmental believes, behaviours and enjoyment, as well as altruistic, hedonic, symbolic and human values.
On the farms, dialogue visits were conducted to identify the agroecosystem, varieties of shade trees, coffee trees, live fences, weeds, coffee tree management, soil, and shade. Furthermore, participant observation using a field diary was used to observe the motivations of families towards their life strategies, behaviour, meetings, journeys and events.
Two in-depth interviews were conducted in Spanish and three in the Tzeltal language. During the interviews conducted in Tzeltal, the information was translated into Spanish, resulting in brief sentences. Consequently, records of the conversations were made, as well as the cartographic information generated, which serves to provide greater detail regarding the information.
A flipchart with colours, pencils and markers was provided, and parents and their children were invited to participate in the drawing. Together with the participants, the cardinal points, the river, and the main roads or paths were identified. This tool identified social spaces, landmarks or buildings, symbols, social and cultural celebrations, social interactions with the cooperative, families and community, and strengthened the information, especially when the interviewer did not speak Spanish, only Tzeltal.
Therefore, five social cartographic images were produced after the dialogue process to identify symbolism at the plot, community and housing levels. Cartographic images incorporated graphic representations of the territory, various small plots used for coffee production, the structure of the coffee plantations, productive diversification, family and historical information regarding the cafetales.
The graphic representation made it possible to locate the families’ homes, the milpa and its products as a site of cultural importance and learned about the distribution and amount of land ownership.
Therefore, the life stories of five families in 10 of the communities provide a profound and intensive basis for identifying the values that motivate them to continue producing organic coffee. This is done within the context of the indigenous worldview, traditions, and local customs.
For the systematization of data, a meticulous approach was adopted in the review and editing of each interview, with particular attention paid to the correction of words and phrases. The names of the participants and individuals who assisted in the translation from Spanish to Tzeltal and vice versa were identified. Although anonymity is maintained at the conclusion of the writings, this is in accordance with the agreement established with the coffee-growing households, who gave their informed consent to the research work orally and, in some cases, in writing.
The information was then systematically and rigorously analysed using ATLAS.ti version 25.0.1. This was achieved within the paradigm of grounded theory, as the data was collected systematically and analysed through a research process characterised by a close relationship between data, codes, categories and interaction (Glaser and Strauss, 1998).
One of the components of this grounded theory is symbolic interactionism, and what is constructed with families allows us to see a social reality as well as the interpretation expressed in the symbolic values found (Blumer, 1969).
The constructivist paradigm presupposes a relativist ontology in which multiple social realities exist, a subjectivist epistemology wherein the researcher and the researched co-create knowledge, and a set of procedures. Discoveries are known in terms of the criteria of grounded theory. And the criteria of the constructivist paradigm are reliability, credibility, transferability, and confirmation (Denzin and Lincoln, 2012).
The basic aspects of constructionism are comprehensible realities in the form of multiple, intangible mental constructions based on society and experience, which are local and specific in nature. Therefore, the form and content of the research depend on the individuals or groups, in this case five families who hold these values (Guba and Lincoln, 2002).
During the process of managing the data, a total of 100 codes were generated, which were subsequently grouped into 32 groups and five categories. The categories employed in this study include cafetales, coffee-growing households, livelihoods, cafetal remuneration, and values (see Table 1).
Table 1. Principal data analysis categories.
The dimensions identified are the result of an analysis of code co-occurrences based on the sustainable components. The information of values emerges from the codes and groups identified (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Dimensions of the values of coffee-growing peasant households. Source: Own source.
The systematisation work carried out in the Atlas.ti programme identified the following as the most frequent relationships between the codes:
● Symbolic and hedonic values with family legacy or inheritance. The concept of symbolic value is understood as the moral and emotional dimension of the ‘self’ as an individual, belonging and land use with decision-making power in a cultural, political and social environment (Etzioni, 2010). And hedonic value as a human value that gives people pleasure and self-gratifying feelings (Schwartz, 2012).
● The cafetal, with the land, love for the activity, peasant families and their stages of development, such as family inheritance, patrimonial property and coffee production as a tradition. This value is related to the non-use value known as instrumental value that satisfies a desire or need. In this case, the land provides a service and is one of the benefits provided by nature (Himes et al., 2024).
● Producing organic coffee as part of a family legacy and tradition.
● Customary practices such as burying family members in the cafetal, an aspect that reflects the profound connection with the land demonstrated by the Mayan culture.
● Peasant coffee-growing households who belong to the land, cafetales as a tradition and part of history, and a set of values that sustain the activity.
Table 1 presents the categories and their descriptions, in addition to some codes as examples of the work conducted to interpret and analyse the information. The description of the codes is a basic or meaningful summary of what was identified and analysed.
3 Results
The results of this research presented other values and motivations beyond those of the economic domain, which promote the cultivation of organic coffee for the benefit and from the perspective of the coffee-growing households, as well as its significant contribution to the livelihood strategies of the inhabitants of Chiapas, Mexico.
The values identified within the perspectives of symbolic and intangible value in relation to the perception of coffee-growing families are as follows: love for the coffee plantation, love for the land, love for work, coffee activity tradition, family heritage, eternal rest in the coffee plantations, as well as the exchange value in the coffee-growing territory. This is in the cultural context of the indigenous people and their relationship with the land, the family, and their systems of production and reproduction.
The households mentioned a range of values that have been also categorised within value theory. These values include heritage value, symbolic value, use value, exchange value, intrinsic value, and instrumental value. Heritage value is defined as the cafetales role as a family legacy. Symbolic value is associated with the fulfilment derived from the cafetal. Use value refers to the benefits it provides to the households. Exchange value signifies the cafetales status as a commercial good. Intrinsic value and instrumental value are also mentioned, though to a lesser extent.
From the perspective of coffee-growing peasant households, the values identified are the coffee agroecosystem, which encompasses the local term ‘el cafetal’, from which values such as exchange derive.
The production of coffee is a practice that has been handed down through generations of peasant families. It is a tradition that encompasses cultural practices and evokes a sense of pride, as well as a profound connection to the land. The coffee plantation is imbued with hedonic values. Family members are interred in the land itself, perpetuating their legacy within the landscape (see Figure 2).
Figure 2. The values associated with cafetales in indigenous communities. Source: Own creation.
The coffee-farming territory connects the land with the lives of the coffee-producing peasant households, both in life and death. Furthermore, the households live, transfer and promote the values related to the love of the land, and its principal economic activity, the production of agroecological coffee. This is illustrated in Figure 1, where the socio-cultural dimension of the values is identified.
3.1 The cafetal
The cafetal is the term employed by coffee-growing families to denote what is referred to by researchers as the coffee agroecosystem.
The coffee agroecosystem as the production unit for coffee consists of an ecosystem modified by the farming household and includes hoticultural and fruit subsystems that receive inputs of workforce, energy, pollinators and materials that produce outputs of coffee or other crops, biomass and ecosystem services. This coffee agroecosystem encompasses socioeconomic, cultural and historial dimensios within a specific territory (Hernández Xolocotzi, 1977; Hart, 1985; Parra, 2020). In addition to the generation of use and exchange values, such as economic value, cafetales involve symbolic and hedonic values such as the tradition of coffee production, love for the cafetal, love for the land, love for the work, family heritage and use and custom values.
The cafetales produce organic coffee and are also referred to by coffee-growing households as shade-grown coffee are being renewed on an annual basis, with 100 to 200 trees per property being replaced.
The varieties of shade trees that were identified in the cafetales included, mango (Mangifera indica L.), loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.), banana (Musa paradisiaca L.), orange (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck), peach (Prunus persica L.) Batsch), soursop (Annona squamosa), cacaté o cachichin (Oecopetalum mexicanum), cedar (Cedrela odorata L.), chalum (Inga oerstediana Benth.ex Seem., 1853), Mexico yellow pine (Pinus oocarpa). Wild plants in cafetales include cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz), taro (Colocasia esculenta) and sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.). These species of fruit trees provide food and firewood, timber, as well as edible and medicinal herbs. The type of coffee grown is organic, also known by coffee-growing families as shade-grown coffee.
The fruits provided by the shade trees are generally intended for self-consumption, with the surplus being sold to neighbouring households or, if they have one, in their small produce store. The coffee plantation is a source of enjoyment, and even more so when you consider that some properties have access to water sources such as streams or springs.
The primary source of annual income for the inhabitants of the region is derived from cafetales, which have become the predominant economic activity in the area, effectively transforming it into a coffee-growing territory. The interviewed farmers emphasised the presence of Coffea arabica L. in varieties that the local population identifies as Bourbon and Garnica, as well as other unidentified varieties, and emphasised the importance of shade trees and land management.
Regarding cafetal management, essential practices expressed by farmers include a triannual cleaning regime, the harvesting of coffee beans from December to March, and a subsequent post-harvest processing procedure encompassing pulping and drying. The agricultural family reports an average coffee yield of 10–12 bags (40–45 kg) per 2 hectares. The coffee plantation is managed by the coffee-growing families themselves at different times of the year, and they hire up to five people for activities such as cleaning, renovation, harvesting, shade management and post-harvesting.
Families place significant emphasis on the inheritance of land, the necessity for continuity in production, and, above all, the farming of the cafetales so that future generations can benefit from it.
As well as the diversity of plants and animals found in this cultivated forest, it also encompasses the set of values it represents and inspires in households, creating and fomenting a love for these cafetales that embody a complex web of cultural, social, environmental and economic factors.
“Because it’s an inheritance and I value it, a memory of my parents. How can we let it die?, she says. “Your plot of land, I know your father left it to you, you’re going to leave it to us, and we must take care of it. We also must tell our children to take care of it. That’s the guidance I’ve given my children”.
65-year-old woman, coffee producer, community of Chaná, Tenejapa, Chiapas.
The organic coffee agroecosystem is taken advantage of by households through the consumption of coffee, fruits, firewood, and timber from shade trees, which also have commercial value. The profound attachment that families have for their cafetales and consequently for the land, is a salient feature, as illustrated in Figure 2.
3.1.1 Love for the cafetal
A fundamental hedonic value identified was love for the coffee plantation (see Figure 2). It is evident that the lives of the indigenous Tzeltal coffee producers are inextricably linked to the land. Consequently, the land is primarily utilised for the cultivation of coffee and food for personal consumption, including milpa.
Their love for coffee farming is evident in their desire to continue producing coffee for as long as their bodies and strength allow. They also mention their affection for the activity, saying things such as, ‘My coffee farm is beautiful,’ ‘I like it,’ ‘It’s what I know how to do,’ and expressing pride in their work. They also pass on the activity to their descendants.
“What I like doing most is planting coffee”.
54-year-old woman coffee producer, community of Chaná, Tenejapa, Chiapas.
“Well, I ask God to give me a bountiful harvest, that everything goes well.
I like my coffee and my milpa”.
48-year-old woman coffee producer, community of Sibaniljá Pocolum, Tenejapa, Chiapas
The cafetal provides enjoyment, shade, food, firewood, economic well-being, diversity (See Figure 2) even more so when considering that some properties have water sources such as streams or surface water flows from springs.
Therefore, within the framework of value theory, the emotions and moral values related to human behaviour are identified, and symbolism is recognised in addition to economic value. The instrumental value, which refers to the satisfaction of needs, preferences, interests or desires as part of the total economic value, is also identified.
The love expressed towards the cafetal and coffee farming is exemplified by the management and post-harvest practices refined by households over generations. This study identified families, both second- and third generation, who specialise in organic coffee production. Consequently, it can be identified as a coffee-growing tradition that is passed down to the sons and daughters of the original cultivators.
3.1.2 Coffee activity tradition
Tradition is another value identified by households, rooted in the practice of coffee farming as an economic and cultural activity, in the concepts of succession and legacy whereby the activity has been transmitted from grandparents to their descendants over time, thereby serving as a cultural and historical marker for these communities, and in the transmission of this knowledge to their offspring, which is also associated with heritage or legacy values (see Figure 2, values).
Organic coffee production and the coffee plot management practices have become a traditional way of growing coffee in the region, as described below.
“Please don’t use fertilizers, don’t ruin the land”.
65-year-old woman coffee producer, community of Chaná, Tenejapa, Chiapas.
Tradition is also evident with respect to the type of coffee produced and agroecological practices, reflected in the diversity of tree species, productive diversification, the milpa with cultivation of intercalated maize and beans and temporary employment. This value is intimately related to the love of work.
3.1.3 Love of work
Families articulate their resolve and sentiments, which gravitate towards the preservation of the land and its inheritance to their children, as opposed to its sale. The farmers also expressed pride in their coffee production activities. The subjects of this study identify themselves as coffee producers or “cafeticultores” (coffee farmers). They value the continuation of family effort, as instilled by their parents and grandparents, and is considered an integral element of their legacy (See Figure 2).
The love of their work is intimately related to management of the cafetal, which includes removing weeds and wild plants, taking care of the coffee plants, planting shade trees and plants, shade management and harvest and post-harvest activities such as depulping and desiccation of the coffee (see Figure 2, values and their relationships). The love of work is clearly reflected in the following expression.
“I feel very joyful, happy. I will continue producing coffee as long as God gives me life”.
55-year-old man coffee producer, community of Majosik, Tenejapa, Chiapas.
Rather than planted in neat rows, coffee plants are placed in the available space between stones and rocks, a practice also utilized when sowing maize in the milpa (the land in this region is frequently stony due to the predominance of Karstic geomorphology).
This appropriate agroecosystem is viewed by the coffee farmers as a ‘beautiful, well-managed cafetal’. They also emphasize the significance of maize as a staple household food, as well as the transmission of farming practices to subsequent generations, despite the challenges associated with labouring in the cafetales. The value of this legacy can be appreciated in the management of the coffee farm, its heritage aspect, and coffee production that is entrusted from generation to generation.
3.1.4 The family inheritance, legacy value
Together with land, coffee growing in this region of the Altos de Chiapas is an inherited value. This concept is related to the crop per se and its services, varieties of plants within the cafetal, such as coffee, fruit trees, shade trees and bushes, and wild plants. This value is also associated with the type of coffee produced, in this case organic (See Figure 2).
The history of the cafetal constitutes a fundamental element of the third generation of the coffee farming family. It is documented that the cafetal was initially owned by the grandfather, followed by the father and his sons. However, except for a few isolated cases, it has been passed down through successive generations of women within the family, from the grandfather to the mother and then to the daughter.
Therefore, there is inheritance and succession of land as property, as well as real estate, with the particularity that it is patrilineal to male children as part of the local culture of the Tzeltal indigenous people.
Households mention the importance of teaching their children on how to conserve the cafetal, in addition to its cultural and economic value. This inherited value encompasses cultural practices, such as shade management and harvesting, as well as associated challenges. As part of the families’ heritage, the cafetal is not only a source of income, but also a legacy and tradition that they wish to preserve as you can see in Figure 2 with more detail.
In terms of the source of income represented by cafetales as an agroforestry system, the services and benefits provided include food, timber, firewood and enjoyment, as well as an exchange value due to the quantitative relationship and exchange between supply and demand (See Figure 2).
The way in which property and land are inherited is unique in this region of Chiapas, as the land is divided into small plots or parcels of coffee that are distributed among neighbouring communities and can number up to five or six. This provides the opportunity to pass down the land to all children as they see fit.
A characteristic of this region of Chiapas is that the coffee plots are relatively small, each measuring an average of 200 m2 to 1000 m2 (one hectare), and the total area of the different plots belonging to a household range from 500 m2 to 3 ha. This type of land tenure is linked to production diversification, income strategies, and decisions made by coffee-farming households. Scarcity of available land and a growing population are important factors that lead to the “parcelization” of the territory and a corresponding decrease around the area of cafetales.
Some small plots have a name in the Tzeltal language that is linked to the perception of the land, origin, or place, held by the local indigenous inhabitants. This custom of naming the cafetales creates identity and a strong connection with the land and bears cultural and symbolic similarities to the burial of family members in the coffee groves.
3.1.5 Eternal rest in the cafetales
The burial of family members in the cafetales or household homegardens is a custom of the native Tzeltal peoples. There are no public cemeteries in the communities and areas that constitute the municipality of Tenejapa, Chiapas except in the municipal capital or urban area.
Thus, the family tradition of being buried in a specific place, usually within a cafetal, is the reflection of the parents’ desire to be buried there. The choice of final resting place creates an inherent connection to the land and ensures that the cafetal or milpa will remain in the family as an inheritance. It also allows them to rest on the land where they grew up, a land with which they have formed an inextricable spiritual connexion over the years, happily at eternal rest on the cafetal which they witnessed grow and farmed over the years.
“I saw your work, it’s good, my daughter, you learned how to do it, what we taught you, and that’s fine. Keep going!”, she says. “I won’t be sad the day I’m gone; my soul will be at peace because I know you’ll know how to take care of the cafetal”.
(Continued) “And that’s what I tell my children: don’t even sell my grave! If they bury me here. I tell them not to sell my grave, because that’s where my remains will rest”.
“My mother is buried over there in that small shelter because that’s where she said she wanted to rest” (graves and rustic huts within the cafetal).
65-year-old woman coffee producer from the community of Chaná, Tenejapa, Chiapas.
The land, including the cafetal and milpa, has been in the family for two or three generations. The family are coffee producers, with the grandfather, father and son all involved. It is their family heritage and tradition to have graves containing the remains of their parents or other family members within the cafetal.
This custom of burying people within the coffee forest has symbolic value because it is connected to emotional, moral and cultural expressions of the coffee-growing region.
Symbolic value encompasses tradition, eternal rest, enjoyment, contemplation, and spirituality (see Figure 2). Love for the land is imbued with moral and emotional significance, and moreover it has no economic value or price, which is why it will remain in the family for many generations. Symbolic value thus becomes more significant.
3.1.6 Love for the land
The love for the land is inextricably linked with the salient interrelated aspects of familial heritage, the legacy bestowed by coffee farming and the key incentive of an annual economic income. The values identified from this perspective include family heritage, hedonic and symbolic value, tradition, the power derived from the activity itself, graves within the cafetales, and finally aesthetic and landscape value.
The stories shared by the different households make it clear that there is an emotional bond with the inheritance of land on which they live, the farming of crops and coffee, and being laid to rest in the cafetal (see Figure 2 for an overview of the values and their relationships).
The families emphasised the legacy they want to pass on to their children, with some already identifying potential successors for their small coffee farms. In most cases, cultural tradition dictates that land is inherited by male offspring, while daughters move to live with their husbands’ families after marriage.
Edaphic factors also comprise the main components of the agroecological coffee agroecosystem, which is considered a unit and includes crops, weeds, wild plants pests, and diseases (Hart, 1985). Shade diversity is associated with soil quality, productivity and resilience in a system.
In the case of Altos de Chiapas, the family produces coffee as part of an agroforestry system, where there is food for subsistence, and ecosystem services, in addition to managing germplasm in varieties of coffee, maize and banana. These production practices are strengthened by the intergenerational exchange of knowledge, with seasonal production cycles and crop rotation being linked in space and time.
Land as an agricultural legacy lasts for several generations and is known by the local inhabitants as arraigo a la produccion de café (being rooted to coffee production).
3.1.7 Social organization
Parents express their desire for their children to continue the family tradition of coffee production and marketing in an organised manner, as well as understanding the value of the cafetal and the land.
Love for the land is closely linked to love for the cafetal and the income generated by this activity, which is why the children express their gratitude to their parents for the social organisation and creation of the coffee cooperative (see Figure 2).
Coffee farming generates a desire for better incomes for families, which leads to the formation of peasant organisations to coordinate collective work. Families organise themselves with the aim of achieving better productivity through technical assistance and project support, as well as to market organic coffee at better prices. In addition, by organising themselves, peasant families can offer coffee with added value by processing it in parchment, thereby increasing their incomes.
Parchment coffee (café pergamino) is obtained after a wet processing method, in which the fruit is pulped, and the mucilage is removed to finally obtain the dry bean with a shell, which is the endocarp. It should be noted that unorganised coffee producers offer their coffee to intermediaries in cherry or grape form, which is the natural state of the ripe fruit as it is harvested.
As previously mentioned, the foundations of the social group are the households of the rural coffee-producing farmers, who have a tradition of organizing themselves to obtain a benefit. It is well known that the grandparents are or were founding members of the cooperative or have belonged to other cooperatives in the region.
Agroecological coffee is produced by peasant families whose income does not reflect the effort and dedication involved in coffee production, from planting trees and managing the agroecosystems to harvesting and preparing the fruit. In this region of Chiapas, a peasants’ objective is subsistence. Even when organised, low incomes are observed because they cannot subsist on what their land produces alone. This is despite coffee being a highly demanded product that is marketed outside of Mexico.
3.2 Coffee farming territory
The coffee-growing territory of the Altos de Chiapas (Highlands of Chiapas) is made up of small settlements/hamlets and municipalities within the high mountain region of Chiapas, an area which is predominantly dedicated to the cultivation of coffee. These indigenous communities are of Mayan ancestry.
The landscape matrix consists of small coffee cafetales, milpa, orchards, and small dispersed settlements called “parajes”.
It is worth mentioning that the interpretation of the Tzeltal territory, observed and analysed in the life stories, coincides with Nolasco et al. (2003) who suggests that `the territory comprises of the settlement where the people live, the milpa and the mountains or countryside where the “owners” live`; and that ‘it is the space where the collection of firewood and edible plants, subsistence hunting and grazing is conducted’.
In this regard, the organic coffee of Tenejapa, Chiapas is considered as the space which produces coffee and provides food, where firewood is collected, and where the ‘owners’ reside. In addition, the household’s ancestors and family members rest in peace in the cafetal or homegardens.
Under this region cosmovision of man and nature, coffee-growing territories are established, given roots and then accommodated. Coffee has gradually replaced the milpa, the cultivation of agave and other crops as it is more economically viable. However, the connection of people with the land is only one, and this is also reflected in Tenejapa and family values identified with the cafetal, the land and their inherited traditions.
3.3 Coffee-growing peasant families
Tzeltal coffee-growing households consist of parents, their children, their married children, their daughters-in-law, and their grandchildren. Family and land ownership is patrilineal, passing down to either the eldest or youngest son. Daughters typically move to their husband’s family home when they marry.
Family members express their suffering at the absence of children who have emigrated as soon as they reached adulthood, settling in their place of work — either in Mexico or the United States — which makes it difficult for them to return to their community of origin. They also talk about the challenges they face in maintaining agricultural production and family organisation amid migration, economic responsibilities, and cyclical issues such as fluctuating coffee prices, pests, and diseases.
The coffee-growing peasant household is at a stage of development involving expansion, dispersion, separation and replacement. So, tangible and intangible values are observed at the three stages of family, and it is also identified as part of the workforce, contributing to income generation, productive diversification, and livelihood strategies.
The love for the cafetal, work and the land demonstrated by the coffee-growing families is an inherent part of the constant development, interrelationships and livelihood strategies within the household, an entity which is under constant change and adaptation to the prevailing socioeconomic, cultural and environmental factors among others. Inhabitants mention that coffee-production will remain and persist within the household (see Figure 2 for values and relationships).
In this region of Chiapas, coffee farming is predominantly undertaken by peasant families, comprising a husband and wife, with the employment of workers for cultural activities such as cleaning, shade management, soil management (living barriers), weed control, coffee tree management and harvesting, as well as post-harvest activities. This phenomenon occurs irrespective of the developmental stage of the coffee trees.
The livelihood strategies identified in this coffee-growing region of Chiapas include income from government transfers, temporary employment in construction and other sectors, and local, regional and international migration. In several families, there are grocery stores that specialise in the sale of surplus fruit and roasted and ground coffee.
3.4 Dimensions of the values of coffee-growing peasant households
The dimensions of the values of coffee-growing peasant households are a proposal for values to be addressed within the objectives of sustainability in agroecology.
Figure 1 represents four dimensions of values from the perspective of peasant farming families whose main activity has been and will continue to be coffee due to their deep roots in the territory and the activity.
3.4.1 Dimensions, values and characteristics
● Socio-cultural:
○ Symbolic values: A) The coffee-growing tradition is a source of pride and is passed down through the generations, with cultural practices being developed and shared among household members. It is a transgenerational activity. The majority of households intend to continue producing coffee until they are no longer able to do so. B) Eternal rest in the graves of the cafetales, a reflection of the wishes of household members, symbolism of what the cafetales represent in life and the memory they represent in death.
○ Hedonic values. A) Love for the land as it is a historical patrimony to which they belong. It is also part of a stunning view and landscape. B) Love for the cafetal as a provider of remuneration in cash and other benefits from coffee and shade tree crops. Beautiful coffee groves, enjoyment, personal satisfaction. C) Love for work and productive activity per se, as a transgenerational tradition, evident in the continuity and permanence of coffee production.
○ Legacy value, the family inheritance of a patrimonial asset is a value linked to the other values.
● Economic:
○ This dimension represents a secure annual income and savings for households who can sell their coffee in parchment form. This dimension plays a significant role in the livelihoods of the household, providing a complementary income towards subsistence.
● Productive:
○ Organic and fair-trade coffee
○ Coffee growing tradition.
● Environmental:
○ Polyculture agroecosystem and goods and ecosystems services providers. Provision of energy such as firewood for cooking, wood, food, consumption of organic coffee, and during renewal of the coffee plot, a combination of milpa and sapling coffee trees.
○ Diversity.
The dimensions of values revolve around the “distinctive” peasant coffee-growing family and its agroecological cafetal in the Chiapas highlands, a region renowned for coffee production.
The peasant coffee-growing families of the indigenous Mayan communities in Chiapas are historically, traditionally and emotionally tied to the land. Both cafetales and communities belong to a coffee-growing region, a mountainous zone of Chiapas where coffee is the predominant economic activity.
4 Discussion
The dimensions of the values presented have the academic purpose of placing the values in the component of sustainability; however, in the life of rural households, the values are mixed and there is no possibility of differentiating them.
In this case study, new symbolic values are fond due to the connection to the land that peasant households have. These symbolic and hedonistic values strengthen the services provided by the traditional polyculture agroecosystem. In this regard, Soto-Pinto et al. (2000) identified that the coffee agroecosystem provides services such as food, firewood for fuel, timber for construction, medicinal plants among others.
Symbolic values add value to the coffee as a commodity resulting from a negotiation, as pointed out by Corraliza and Berenguer (2000); Gray (1985), in addition to the environmental values.
Consequently, symbolic and hedonic values contribute to strengthening the principles of agroecology since they transcend generations, explaining and sustaining organic production in the Chiapas Highlands. Therefore, the socio-cultural component of coffee production should be addressed as a central axis in the agroecological transition, in addition to technical-productive or market aspects.
The hedonistic and traditional human values defined by Schwartz (1992, 2012), whose objectives are pleasure and gratifying feelings, as well as respect, commitment, and acceptance of cultural customs and ideas, motivate people to enjoy life and accept or respect traditions, which motivates social subordination. Thus, these human values are confirmed in peasant households, such as the love of the coffee plantation, work, and land, which provide satisfaction and pleasure, in addition to continuing the coffee-growing tradition that transcends practices and the type of coffee.
Because the symbolic and hedonistic values of small producers with agroecological practices must be part of the components that frame sustainability, this is what is addressed in the following section. Therefore, an analysis of the values identified from the theoretical perspectives of value is included.
1. Love for the cafetal, which rewards the family with the coffee berry harvest that is processed into parchment coffee delivered to the cooperative and sold into green coffee annually. Organic and fairtrade coffee is harvested from a traditional shade-grown polyculture and the proximity of the cafetal to the dwelling, which corresponds to the present resource utilisation value as outlined by Campos Palacín (1994). The concept of ‘use value’ is identified in the subjective utility of a good, as indicated by Marx (1867). This is demonstrated by the self-consumption of coffee, and the goods and services of an agroecological cafetal.
2. The coffee-growing tradition of the land or small coffee plots that have been passed down through the family and its generations. These cafetales are currently producing organic coffee and will continue to do so. The concept of non-use value is related to the cafetal as a cultural tradition, a provider of ecosystem services, and a contributor to soil fertility. It is also associated with the satisfaction of the community as a whole. This falls within the category of natural capital in view of moral aspects (Beltrani, 1997; Bonnett, 2012).
3. A love of work that is expressed above all in the parents, as their main productive activity. It is a legacy children received, and it is an activity they will continue until their physical strength and health allow them to do so. Instrumental value related to satisfying needs, preferences, interests, or desires (Himes et al., 2024).
4. The family inheritance that lies in the cultivation of organic and fairtrade coffee on the land they inherited, which tells the story of the territory. Legacy value, as refers Campos Palacín (1994) to the personal or social benefit. This concept pertains to the land dedicated to the milpa and cafetales, as well as the practice of burying family members within the latter as an inherited cultural heritage (Bonfil Batalla, 1997).
5. The tradition of eternal rest in the cafetales is a local custom, as is the desire and decision to be laid to rest forever in one’s coffee grove, which will be inherited for the same purpose. This action gives the cafetal symbolic and estimated value that goes beyond the monetary value of the land itself.
6. Love for the land, a value that goes hand in hand with heritage, the tradition of agroecological coffee farming due to its diversity, and the value of caring for their ancestors. Symbolic value is regarded as cultural and symbolic facts, originating in pleasure and morality. The processing of information from a human perspective in terms of motives, emotions, and the estimated value of land on an individual or collective basis is pivotal in this regard (Etzioni, 2010). The coffee-growing territory as a whole has symbolic value for the families who live there.
7. Social organisation, parents pass on collective work to different families from different communities but from the same indigenous territory. Therefore, in addition to organic agroecological coffee farming, they share the Tzeltal Mayan culture. The social organisation’s sustainability strategies are also to continue producing organic and shade-grown coffee, strengthen the diversity of the coffee agroecosystem, and diversify activities through subsystems.
8. And the economic value, annual income. Exchange value, defined as the objective and subjective usefulness of a good (Marx, 1867), which relates to the sale of the harvest from the cafetales.
The strategy of small coffee producers is to group together and organise themselves to improve social action and the marketing of their production with the organic seal. To date, no collective strategy has been reported to reduce land fragmentation.
From a peasant economy perspective, subsistence as analysis category is related to food production and the amount of land available due to characteristics of land use of southern Mexico, which is small plots. The self-sufficiency of coffee-producing families comes from agroecological coffee plantations and cornfields, which is why the term subsistence is used. INEGI (2014) defines subsistence agriculture as ‘economic units engaged in agricultural activities, whose production is mostly for the consumption of the producer and only a small part for sale or barter’.
In this region of Chiapas, the concept of sustainability within the principles of agroecology is difficult to achieve due to the limited land available for producing coffee which is up to three hectares and milpa which is less than a hectare. The milpa covers the basic for up to four months for a family of six and the coffee annual incomes cover partially the needs of family.
Then, the food produced in the coffee plantation which are mainly fruit, tubers and some herbs cover some of the family’s needs in different seasons of the year, and some families sell their surplus fruit in local grocery stores or at their doorsteps. So, other lifeways strategies come along to complete incomes.
Thus, empirical realities should be analysed using research processes to create theory such as the symbolic and hedonic values that families practise and live by and that motivate them to make decisions regarding their productive activity.
Local perspective of values associated with coffee growing at small scale should be considered by buyers and coffee intermediaries and trader companies in social responsibility and the purchasing policies. Furthermore, the importance of the productive activity supported by a variety of values should be communicated to the consumers as well.
In several cases, men and women show similar emotional bonds to the historic inheritance of the cafetales and milpa, subsistence production, connection to the land as indigenous people and the economic and cultural importance of the land. Consequently, equality should be emphasized.
Therefore, it is now time that intangible values of agroecological farming households, who consider aspects of satisfaction beyond economic value, are integrated into research and development policies or projects. These intangible socio-cultural dimensions are subjective and include heritage, tradition, human and hedonistic values.
Research in other coffee-growing areas should consider diverse sociocultural contexts and land tenure, considering small, medium and large producers. It is also recommended that research be conducted with other types of coffee, such as conventional coffee, and with other certification labels.
5 Conclusions
The values experienced by farming families in indigenous coffee agroecosystems are love for the cafetal, coffee activity tradition, love of work, family inheritance, restring place/grave, love of the land, and social organization. These values are anchored in a living indigenous coffee territory with a strong connection to land and nature.
Despite the challenges associated with coffee growing, households will continue to produce coffee based on their values and connection to the land. All these values are intrinsic to the living coffee-growing territory of the Altos de Chiapas and to the farming families who proudly carry out their traditional activity and remain on the land both in life and death. The identified values correspond to the specific critical case study, but the values in a broad sense will not always be present in other contexts.
Then, the coffee-growing households of the indigenous communities in the Altos de Chiapas region are continuing to produce organic and fairtrade coffee despite facing economic, social and environmental challenges. This phenomenon is not solely attributable to the economic value of coffee production; it is also a consequence of the profound affection for the cafetales intertwined with a coffee-growing tradition that has been perpetuated across several generations.
Consequently, the concept of coffee agroecosystems, in addition to considering elements such as units of coffee production together with horticulture, fruit production, and livestock subsystems consisting of energy and material inputs that produce outputs of coffee and other services. This concept should also encompass the elements that are experienced by peasant farmer households such as the socio-cultural dimension and values. This dimension includes the productive tradition, love for the cafetal, love for work and love for the land as a patrimonial asset that is inherited and is also the preferred place for eternal rest.
Then, the sustainable agroecological coffee not only address social, environmental, and economic dimensions, but also the socio-cultural and human that drive the decision to keeping producing coffee despite cyclical challenges. The cafetal provides families with services and enjoyment in life and in death due to the preference for burial there, thereby acquiring human and emotional value beyond the land’s exchange value.
Finally, the set of values cited explains why organic and fairtrade production continues to grow in the Chiapas Highlands. Whilst the present findings demonstrate the importance of considering tangible values, they also emphasise the significance of less discussed intangible values, with a view to providing a more comprehensive explanation in research related to the scaling up of agroecological production systems. Furthermore, recognizing the importance of these values will ensure that rural development projects at the community or wider level, will be rooted in the perceptions, desires, livelihoods, traditions, spirituality, and future goals of the indigenous coffee farmers.
Data availability statement
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
Ethics statement
The studies involving humans were approved by CEI - Ethics evaluation for research committee. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
Author contributions
MM-M: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Software, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. OH: Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – review & editing. MS-P: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing. CZ-L: Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing. PP-A: Validation, Writing – review & editing.
Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. This article was partially supported for field work by SECIHTI, 2025 under grant PEE-2025-G-528: A look at inequalities and social inclusion in coffee-growing regions through the appropriation and construction of identities by rural youth.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the coffee producers’ cooperative in Tenejapa, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico for their interest in this topic. We would also like to thank each of the coffee-growing households who opened their doors, gave us their time, shared food with us, participated with enthusiasm and joy, shared information related to their production strategies and practices, and proudly showed us their cafetales. We thank the research institution El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Unidad San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas for its work in the region, and the people of Mexico through the Mexican Ministry of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation for their support and funding of the research through a doctoral scholarship provided to the lead author.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Supplementary material
The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fagro.2025.1680400/full#supplementary-material
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Keywords: organic coffee, agroecological coffee, symbolic value, legacy value, use value, exchange value, peasant and indigenous agriculture
Citation: Morales-Mendoza MG, Herrera OB, Soto-Pinto ML, Zamora-Lomeli C and Pérez-Akaki P (2025) Traditional values that sustain agroecological coffee production among small scale coffee-growing families in Chiapas, Mexico. Front. Agron. 7:1680400. doi: 10.3389/fagro.2025.1680400
Received: 05 August 2025; Accepted: 12 November 2025; Revised: 31 October 2025;
Published: 11 December 2025.
Edited by:
Alexander Wezel, ISARA, FranceReviewed by:
Izabela Liz Schlindwein, Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF), GermanyMónica Risueño-Solarte, Universidad del Cauca, Colombia
Copyright © 2025 Morales-Mendoza, Herrera, Soto-Pinto, Zamora-Lomeli and Pérez-Akaki. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Obeimar B. Herrera, b2JhbGVudGVAZWNvc3VyLm14