Oooohhh you're in luck, there are SO many wonderful agroecologists on the Peninsula. (You'll probably get better results looking for the term agroecology rather than permaculture.) Here are some that I know, personal friends. Please approach them with respect and contact them with a mutually beneficial proposal (offering free labour/requesting a farming apprenticeship, subscribing to a veggie box, funding offer, finding out about a seed fair, buying services) to make good use of everyone's time, since these are busy and polite people.
- [start with the letter after T in the alphabet here... I wasn't able to post the full name of this NGO since its first word, in Maya, is a pesky SMS abbreviation in English! ha!] Yits Kaan and Comerciando como Hermanos, agroecology and training/events centre in Mani, Yucatan run by religious people. Make an appointment in advance, otherwise only a couple of people will be around, in the office. Great place for holding events in "real world" conditions i.e. sleeping in hammocks and no air conditioning. Wonderful for focusing the mind on relevant questions. Delicious local cooking.
- UIMQRoo (Universidad Intercultural Maya de Quintana Roo) has a BA course in agroecology engineering, for extension workers basically, and they have lots of bright students and graduates and an integrated experimental garden with rabbits, tilapia, chickens and lots of plants for feed and food.
- The Xiu family farm in Mama, Yucatán. Pioneer agroecologists and melipona beekeepers, also running a fruit and vegetable CSA into Merida. Agroecology legends.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/GyZ9FVUw5d1Db7aLA
- [The letter that follows T in the alphabet here...] Yool Che in Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Quintana Roo, an NGO with sterling work and a weekly tianguis.
- A bunch of young people split from the above a few years ago and started their own group, Jóvenes de la Zona Maya, saving and selling heirloom seeds and honey.
- Misioneros AC in Maní, Yucatán. Heavy hitters. They're a community-based Maya organisation who have a small medicinal garden (and have friends who run a considerably bigger one, also with residential places for disabled or elderly people) and promote milpa, meliponas, seed saving, Maya culture and tradition and processing and selling some interesting products like banana flour.
- [The letter that follows T in the alphabet here...] Yich Lu'um, Sanahcat, Yucatán. An NGO of very committed and driven agroecologists.
- The anti-GMO beekeepers in Campeche under Lady Pech, hardnosed advocacy work/defensa del territorio.
- A few years ago the government-sponsored programme Pies Ágiles sent out young agronomists to learn/support agroecology in lots of different parts of the Peninsula, they´ll have tips on great initiatives. The programme still runs but under a new name that I've forgotten. There's probably a list of initiatives.
Keep an eye out for the various seed fairs, Fiestas de Semillas, that take place in different villages starting in April-May. Wonderful places to pick up locally adapted maize seeds etc for your complete integrated milpa, chatting to farmers about how to grow them, and imbibe Maya culture.
I have to warn you to stay clear of Ka Kuxtal Much Meyaj in Campeche though. They were an excellent organisation until they suffered a palace coup by an unscrupulous leader in 2021 and haven't been the same since.
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