The construction of an alternative quinoa economy: balancing solidarity, household needs, and profit in San Agustín, Bolivia

Abstract

Quinoa farmers in San Agustín, Bolivia face the dilemma of producing for a growing international market while defending their community interests and resources, meeting their basic household needs, and making a profit. Farmers responded to a changing market in the 1970s by creating committees in defense of quinoa and farmer cooperatives to represent their interests and maximize economic returns. Today farmer cooperatives offer high, stable prices, politically represent farmers, and are major quinoa exporters, but intermediaries continue to play an important role in the local economy. Meanwhile, some farmers rebuff the national cooperatives and intermediaries in favor of a denomination of origin and closer association with local cooperatives. This article, based on 4 months of ethnographic research, explores the reasons for the continued presence of intermediaries on the market landscape and how farmers have worked to create a quinoa economy embedded with fair trade values. Farmers demand stable prices, flexible standards, provision of services, and promises of maintaining the distinctive qualities of San Agustín quinoa. They frame their trades in economic, utility, and solidarity terms to reflect their livelihood strategies, farming capabilities, and personal concepts of fair trade. Meanwhile cooperatives, development initiatives, and intermediaries each argue that their particular buying practices allow farmers to attain household goods, credit, and cash for food and economic security.

Phytoecdysteroids and flavonoid glycosides among Chilean and commercial sources of Chenopodium quinoa: variation and correlation to physico‐chemical characteristics

“…Findings from our work and future studies can be useful for plant breeders, commercial producers, industrial processors, and local communities to promote the pharmacological value of quinoa varieties and products. Furthermore, the knowledge or enhancement of phytoactive content among quinoa varieties may promote the sustainability and livelihoods of quinoa‐producing communities in South America via increased nutritional value, market price, and exportation potential of locally grown food …”

“…Furthermore, the knowledge or enhancement of phytoactive content among quinoa varieties may promote the sustainability and livelihoods of quinoa-producing communities in South America via increased nutritional value, market price, and exportation potential of locally grown food. 1,57,58 FIC-R Biomasa Como Fuente De Nuevos Nutracéuticos Y Cosmeticos, Chile. The authors thank Lena Struwe and David Itenberg for technical assistance.…”

Ethical agro‐food networks in global peripheries, Part II: Re‐placing commodity dependence

“…This means focusing less on isolating the impact of individual certification schemes to evaluate the extent to which they “work” (Ruben & Fort, ) and more on exploring their role as optional, flexible tools for livelihood construction. For example, Ofstehage () explores how quinoa producers in San Agustín in Bolivia engage with different market channels to defend and enhance their livelihoods and forge identities. These include the export of fair trade organic quinoa through a national‐level cooperative; a local collective mark certifying the specific qualities of San Agustín quinoa that is sold through health food stores and tourism markets; and the option of selling lower‐grade or uncertified quinoa to itinerant intermediaries.…”

Farming out of place:

“…Unlike certain heirloom crops, soy is a market commodity (Gudynas ). Quinueros (quinoa farmers) in Bolivia produce quinoa to market it but maintain strong social connections with the crop through shared histories, work, and political life (Ofstehage , ). Likewise, Tartary buckwheat farmers in Yunnan, China, maintain production partially to reproduce culturally meaningful crops and livelihoods (Bulan et al.…”