SALT MINE WITH DANIEL

On Monday, we had a chance to learn about how salt production in Mexico comes to be. CEDO has a sweet friend named Daniel whose family owns an ejido, which is a plot of land given to families where they are able to cultivate it for agricultural uses. Daniel's ejido is being put to use for two types of agriculture production, and we got to visit both! The first location we stopped at was where table salt was being made. We were shown all of the processes by Daniel's friend, Fabien. He had learned most of his salt production knowledge from past experience but is still gaining new knowledge to become faster and more efficient. The table salt process is mostly a rotation between cleaning and drying the salt water through various stages. In the pictures, you can see little squares where each step is shown. Near the end of the presentation, Fabien had mentioned this project has only been running for 5 months, and they've already had about 6 tons made! I couldn't believe it! He also mentioned that he would like for their process too slowly phase out the use of black plastic and he would like to have a salt basin for the processes to be used on. In one of the pictures you can see the beginnings of it, and after it is completely finished there will be a super thick layer which the salt can be made in, so that the plastic is no longer needed.
For the second location, we went to an area that was a little different. In this section, we came to learn about trona, which is a mineral used for its sodium carbonate content. Daniel showed us how the evaporation process comes into affect, how the wild donkeys around the area are pests, and all of the uses trona goes toward. He told us trona is typically used for baking soda, and sometimes for use in lithium batteries in another part of Mexico! We were extremely grateful to have him show us around his land and especially for making the 6 hour drive from Hermosillo. I hope he can carry on his traditions and I hope that I can see his products here in Arizona as well! It takes a lot of work to make salt, and I won't be taking that for granted again!

Fabien (red sleeve shirt) talking to Aaron (blue shirt) our CEDO guide

Beginnings of the organic table salt process

All of the salt within the black plastic is used for table salt. While all of the salt that piles around the outside edges is used for industrial purposes. AKA NO WASTE!