Over the last 20 years, Mike Hands has been working on ways to reduce the destruction of rainforest by setting up demo farms in the tropics, so that farmers can see the benefits of the Alley Cropping. He works closely with the local community through the auspices of a local NGO, Fundacion Pico Bonito, and MOPAWI. 

Through them, he has established working farms with locals, who have all been won over, albeit slowly, when they see the benefits of the system. As Mike explains it, the farmers were initially more interested in the weed suppression than the potential loss of land due to the planting of the alleys. When one farmer was convinced, soon others became curious when they saw the bountiful harvest produced on land that would normally have been exhausted due to the loss of fertility, which then precipitated more forest destruction. (Read about it in the Ecologist)

These campesinos are naturally cautious, slow to take up something new, especially from a gringo! So Mike has been at pains to make sure all progress permeates the community from Pico Bonito and that they establish trust and understanding with the villages. There is nothing worse than a well-meaning gringo coming in and hectoring locals, nothing more likely to make them reach for their machetes. Mike, a Cornish farmer himself as well as ecologist, has overseen and contributed to the construction of local schools for the populace, who often live in dire poverty, barely scratching a living from the poor soil.