Alejandro Carrillo is the 4th generation rancher on his family ranch in northern Mexico. It was perhaps the western movies he loved to watch, but Alejandro’s passion with the Chihuahuan desert started even before he was able to walk. Alejandro enjoyed spending his summers in desert cattle ranches doing roundups, and riding the range.

It was this early exposure that made Alejandro aware of the challenges and frustrations of cattle ranchers working in the desert grasslands. The number of livestock that ranchers could carry was in decline while the inputs required to maintain livestock were increasing every year, affecting also wildlife and livelihood.

After working for several years in the software industry in the financial sector in various countries, Alejandro went back to the ranch back in 2004 to help his father with the cattle operation. He wanted to do things different as the conventional way was not working anymore. He was very fortunate to find some of the best practitioners of Holistic Management not far from his ranch, who became his mentors on his regenerative journey. He took his first Holistic Management training back in 2006 from two of his future mentors: Jesus Almeida and Elco Blanco. 

Nowadays after many trials, Alejandro’s ranch is one of the best references worldwide of what Nature has to offer on an arid, brittle, low precipitation environment if the work done is in sync with Nature: water is infiltrated, rainfall is increasing, plant diversity is growing, wildlife is thriving, soil temperature is warmer in winter and cooler in summer, biomass is growing in plants and insects, livestock numbers are increasing, inputs are lower, and the bottom line of the ranch is improving. Alejandro has built a resilient, profitable operation.