This morning there was a meeting in Media Luna that was attended by members from nearly half of the families in the community, about 40 people. We presented the results from the survey as well as our plan to improve the quality of life in Media Luna through the optimization of agriculture. One method to improve agricultural production that we've identified is to covert the soil of Media Luna from chemical fertilizers to organic. The first components of this transition include finding an agriculture specialist that could assist us in the finalization of our proposal to the Municipality of Urubamba, such proposal aims to obtain state funds for the project (the municipality offers amounts up to 1,000,000 soles, about 300,000 US dollars for public infrastructure projects). It is imperative that funds for this project are obtained from the municipality or from a government agency because the project requires a large initial investment to cover soil analyses, the processes deemed necessary to improve the condition of the soil (there are many stones in the soil and the community believes that a tractor or some type of machinery is necessary to remove the stones and improve the overall soil quality), and the organic fertilizer products. Daniel has estimated the general cost of the transition to be about 50,000 soles. 
An initial pilot project on a parcel of communal land is the best way to demonstrate the effectiveness of organic agriculture as well as teach the community how to create their own compost, a form of organic fertilizer that will eventually be sufficient to prepare the land for planting. The length of time necessary to convert the land is still unclear, from what we've been told it can take as little as one year or as long as five years. This is a subject matter that will be cleared up with a soil analysis. It is very possible that some pieces of land will take less time and others more time, depending on their location in the community.
The majority of the community realize that the land is dying from the chemically based products they use and are interested in pursuing an organic alternative. They agreed that we should continue with the project and that they would participate little by little, not 100 percent at first but that they wanted to see how a pilot project on communal land advances and determine from there if they want to participate in the transition project on their own land. A few community members voiced their doubts about organic products, because they are accustomed to using chemical products and feel more comfortable continuing to do so.
Although I now have only one week left in Urubamba, we hope to complete our proposal to submit to the municipality by the end of next week, ideally with the assistance of an agriculture professional.
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