the world of organic agriculture - Organic Eprints

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The World of Organic Agriculture 2006
was a company that had a wide variety of certified products in Argentinean supermarkets, ranging
from tea to breakfast cereals and corn flour, until the economic crisis. Some of those products
are now sold by one supermarket brand, “Bells Organic”, in a supermarket chain formerly owned
by the Dutch corporation Albert Hejin. In Brazil, the locally owned Zona Sul supermarket chain
has promoted organic products within their clientele, organizing tasting events and special prize
rebates, including big press & advertising campaigns. A very complex operation is carried out
around Rio de Janeiro by Sitio do Moinho, that distributes vegetables, fruits and processed
foods to supermarkets, and is beginning to import from Argentina jams, honey, wines and other
products.
16.2.3 Specialized Stores
Most Latin American countries feature specialized stores, or health food stores, where organic
farmers can take their products to sell to a trained clientele. This is where the information
about organic regulations and characteristics can reach the public. In the IFOAM Local Markets
Conference in Buenos Aires (2000), one of the conclusions from the Latin American participants
was that the specialized stores prepare the public better than supermarkets, and that the owners
of the shops usually help the organic market to grow by spreading the news about recently arrived
products, teaching the consumers to respect the harvest seasons and caring for the vegetables
in a special way.
In Bolivia, the El Ceibo co-operative is a producer association that manages 8’000 hectares, mostly
cocoa, and nuts, quinoa, coffee and hibiscus. And Irupana has more than 15 stores, 12 of them
in La Paz, where they sell breakfast cereals and snacks made from native crops like quinoa or
amaranth. In Chile, there are some specialized stores like La Ventana Orgánica and Puranatura.
In Argentina, El Rincón Orgánico has been running for 17 years, providing customers in Buenos
Aires with more than 200 varieties of organic products from all over the country, and has recently
received the “Spirit of Organic International Award 2004” in Washington DC for its pioneering
work.
A growing trend is the “consumer co-operative shop”. In many secondary cities and towns,
consumers get together and organizeorganize a co-operatives, rent a place and start selling
products from farmers that also belong to the organization. This is very common in the South
of Brazil, through the Eco Vida Network. Sometimes, as the consumers own the shop, prices are
lower, but producers get a fair share.
Shop of the health food cooperative COOLMEIA
in Porto Algere, Brazil. Photgraph: Pipo Alberto
Lernoud