Argentina :: Viñedos De La Posada


Cooperativa Vitivinifruticola De La Rioja
The cooperative movement in Argentina has a long tradition dating back to the 19th century, when European immigrants settled in rural areas. Replicating models used in their home countries, immigrant farmers developed agricultural cooperatives as a way to jointly market and sell their crops.

The Cooperativa Vitivinifrutícola de La Rioja (“La Riojana” for short) was founded in 1940, after moving from the province of Córdoba to La Rioja, where the climate was better suited for wine production. Today La Riojana is comprised of 510 members, including small, mid-sized and large-scale producers. The majority of La Riojana’s members—328—have less than 8 acres of farmland.

Because La Riojana is a Fair Trade cooperative, workers are guaranteed a fair price for their grapes, and receive technical assistance and advice from the Agricultural Department. Under this system, members are able to benefit from additional services such as:

Under the Fair Trade model, Etica also pays a premium to the co-op, which is applied to worker-determined community development projects. A prime example of where the premium funds can help is in the small village of Tilimuqui, outside of Chilecito, that remains in extremely impoverished conditions. Most of the community members work seasonally on farms and many are unemployed. The community is in need of better schools, more teaching supplies, winter coats and shoes for the children, access to fresh water, health care and better housing conditions. La Riojana, Etica and Coop in the UK are working hard to help provide development assistance to this community in dire straights, through the sale of Fair Trade

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