Agrovida

Location:

Piura, Peru

Certification(s):

FLO FairTrade

Organic - BIOLATINA

Agrovida is a small producer association in Little Pedregal, Peru, in the heart of the mango growing area of Piura. The 47 growers and their families represent nearly the entire population of the town, and mangos are their main source of income.

Although certified Fair Trade, they were ripped off by traders three years in a row, from 2007 - 2009, receiving no income for their fruit at all, which left the people, and their village destitute. None of that fruit was sold in the Fair Trade system.

Discovery began importing Mango's from them in 2010. They have only received social premiums for the one container they exported directly last year, which produced $2800 - the first income for that community for social programs, ever!

In cooperation with Apromalpi, another mango growing association, and grants from many sources for new packing equipment, they are now able to pack their fruit in Apromalpi's organic packing plant to professional export levels. This is what Fair Trade is all about!

PDF:

Agrovida.pdf

Our Growers Are Our Heroes

We got into this business because we wanted to help small scale organic farmers here at home gain access to the larger commercial marketplace, and to ensure their families and communities thrive. Over the past decade or so, we have endeavored to do this, step by step, with over ninety B.C. farms.

Our hearts still belong to the small scale growers. We have visited dozens of farms in B.C., working with growers to see them move to larger and more financially sustainable operations.

We feel encouraged by the impressive increase in consumer demand for organics and local. We also acknowledge that we might not be able to grow all our own food year round. Even more so now, as our climate changes, no harvest is a safe bet.

So over the years, we have extended our relationships with small scale farmers to include farms down the Pacific Coast, through Washington, Oregon and California, then on to Mexico and South America. Together, this network of growers keep us all fed year round. And for this we are grateful.