Farming Cooperatives

The United Nations has declared that next year, 2012, will be the International Year of Cooperatives; since 1992, the first Saturday in July has been the International Day of Cooperatives. Worldwide, cooperatives directly employ over 100 million people, according to the UN. A cooperative is a business owned by a group of individuals, and the…

El Salvador Invests in Reducing Dependence on Imports

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a foreign aid agency that aims to combat poverty around the world. A year and a half ago, they granted El Salvador $461 million – well, they granted the organization Fondo del Milenio de El Salvador (Fomilenio) the money, and that organization has committed to using the majority of…

My Poolside Farmers Market

Local food comes to me down here. It’s not always easy to find because a lot of Salvadoran packaging isn’t clearly labeled, but a woman named Ruby who owns a nutrition center has connections with a variety of local and organic farmers. When she learned of this community of gringos who were interested in purchasing…

Farmers Markets: Just a bucolic mask?

Most people generally assume that the produce, meat, and other items they buy at farmers markets are grown or made by the people from whom they are purchasing the items. I recently went to a nearby farmers market (one my mother typically avoids because she insists it is far more expensive than other local ones)….