Strengthening Local Producers
“Almost everything you buy in your local supermarket today is made by eight global companies. Unilever (a British company), for example, now owns many Chilean brands,” says Andreas Aron, co-founder of La Balanza Mercado Cooperativo, as he explains the genesis of his cooperative in the picturesque, lakeside town of Puerto Varas in southern Chile. La Balanza is a thriving marketplace for more than 100 small businesses and farmers that live in or near the town that offers healthier foods produced in an environmentally sustainable way.
Aron, 29-years-old, is a native of Puerto Varas who left to study economics at the University of Chile in Santiago. After college, he worked for Corfo, the economic development agency of the Chilean government, in a program that provides seed funding and technical support to start- up projects oriented toward providing solutions to social problems. A few years later, after taking an extended personal trip throughout North and South America, he returned to Chile with a plan to start his own socially minded business.
“Here in Patagonia, instead of people buying from those who live and work here, we have been passing our resources on to countries that are already wealthy. If you go to Cochamó or Peulla, the oatmeal brand you find there is Quaker, made by Pepsico.” With La Balanza, Aron is trying to catalyze a system that generates favorable economic conditions for local communities to grow and own their food and make it convenient for people to buy locally.
La Balanza is the latest in an already established trend. In Chile, over the past few years other co-ops have been forming with great success, notable
examples include La Manzana in Valdivia and Juntos Compremos in Santiago. Worldwide, the list is also a lengthy one, such as Food Co-op in Brooklyn, the La Louve cooperative in France, and the veritable boom of co-ops found in Spain's major cities.
The underlying principles of all of these food co-ops is the same: they are essentially a grocery store that's owned by the people who shop there, who in turn determine things like what is sold, the quality standards, and the prices. But co-ops are usually much more, they are typically places where you can support local businesses and find organic products and healthier foods made without chemicals and using environmentally regenerative practices, something that today is more necessary than ever.
The first co- op groceries opened in North America in the early 20th century, often arising during times of crisis like we have today. When the Covid-19 pandemic began, many of us saw the scenes of depleted shelves at large supermarket chains around the world as people hoarded products, fearing they would face shortages. These scenes brought home the unsustainability and risk of having to depend on products that are shipped from so far away. Initiatives like La Balanza have stepped into this critical moment, providing a real solution that also contributes to making local communities healthier and more environmentally responsible.
Formed early last year before the pandemic hit (the co-op was formerly called “La Cucha”), La Balanza orders spiked from 60 in February to 400 in March and the growth has only continued apace since. “The pandemic has given people time to reflect. I have spoken to organizations similar to ours and they are all doing very well,” says Aron. “Recently, we were trying to buy oranges, lemons and apples from a network of organic producers in Santiago and they told us that they were dealing with unprecedented demand and were unable to send us our order. The same thing happened with an avocado supplier.”
Certainly, that kind of talk is a good sign for the future.