Chile: Farmers’ Markets Strengthen Link with Consumers
HAVANA TIMES – Nearly 200 Farmers’ Markets operate throughout Chile, establishing a successful relationship between small producers of family farming, indigenous, and rural agriculture and the end consumers of their products.
Around 2,500 farmers participate in the initiative, allowing Chileans to access healthy food at affordable prices.
This connection enriches public and open spaces where producers sell vegetables, fruits, processed foods (such as honey and jams), and handicrafts or medicinal herbs.
The Farmers’ Markets network is mainly made up of women and operates according to the season, climate, and cultural relevance of each territory. It has been promoted since 2016 by the state-run Institute for Agricultural Development (Indap).
Amid her work in Lolenco, in the municipality of Curacaví, 51 kilometers north of Santiago, Cecilia Salgado said, “Farmers’ Markets were a window, a wonderful door for us.”
“My husband and I worked in egg production. But we were not at ease because we didn’t know what to do with so many,” said the 61-year-old farmer, during a day that IPS shared with her at her farm.
“Everyone had the same problem: where do I sell this, who do I offer it to? And buyers only offered what they wanted. But now there are no intermediaries, and we sell at a fair price,” she asserted.
Farmers’ Markets establish direct sales networks and fair trade in spaces where family agriculture offers the best of healthy production.
Additionally, traditional and ancestral foods, native to Chile’s indigenous peoples and their territories, are revived, giving value to this cultural and heritage knowledge.
Salgado has been selling her produce for six years at the Curacaví Farmers’ Market, but she has also sold at others, such as the one in Maipú, Santiago.
She owns two one and a half hectares plots, with almond, plum, apple, and citrus trees.
“The trees started to produce, and the fruit doesn’t last long enough to sell. Now we are at peace because we know the markets are on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and we can sell that fruit,” she explained.
“The most attractive fruit for buyers is ‘feijoas’ (Acca sellowiana) or Brazilian guavas. We started with two trees, and now we have 20. It has been very well received because it contains vitamins, antioxidants, and is fragrant and delicious,” she proudly shared.
Salgado says everything has improved since joining Farmers’ Markets.
“We were trained in a workshop, we have uniforms and tents, and there is a regulation that requires good behavior and good language,” she explained.
Additionally, she now has a Health Resolution that certifies her products as organic.
Indap officials visit her regularly to provide advice and verify that her production is organic. They recently collected oranges to take them to the lab and examine their traceability.
Santiago Rojas, National Director of Indap, summarized the work of these markets for IPS: “They facilitate access to fresh and healthy products from rural and indigenous entrepreneurs.”
He also emphasized their constant growth.
“We will continue bringing products closer and improving the income of Family Farming and Indigenous Agriculture (Afci) in all regions of Chile,” he underlined.
The initiative aims to promote a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient family farming and indigenous agriculture, ensuring food and nutritional security sovereignty while promoting environmental conservation, rural development, and the continuation of rural and farm life.
The roles of agro-exporters and family farmers
Chile is a global supplier of food, with large agro-exporting companies selling primarily to Asia, especially China, as well as the United States and the European Union.
In 2024, Chile’s farm, forestry, and fishing exports grew by 25%, contributing 9.029 billion dollars in income. Of this total, 8.245 billion dollars were from fruit, which increased by 28.6% compared to 2023.
The star product was cherries, with shipments worth 3.574 billion dollars and a growth of 51.4% over the previous year. Meanwhile, grape exports totaled 1.281 billion dollars, a 39.2% increase.
But while large-scale agriculture focuses on the tables of international consumers, a significant percentage of the food for Chile’s 19.5 million inhabitants comes from family farmers.
According to the Chilean Agriculture Overview, Family Farming and Indigenous Agriculture represents 90% of the total agricultural production units in this long, narrow southern country, nestled between the Andes mountain range and the Pacific Ocean.
Indap data reveals that the family and indigenous farmers (Afci) control 54% of vegetable production and over 40% of annual crops, of a single harvest.
In 2023, Afci reached a record in sales to the state-run School Feeding Program, with gross transactions totaling 4.12 million dollars.
This program supplies vegetables and fruits to more than 12,000 educational facilities, benefiting 1.8 million students.
A Transhumant Beekeeper
When almost arriving in Puntra, a small town on the southern island of Chiloé, 1,100 kilometers south of Santiago, IPS interviewed Cesar Gonzalez, a 47-year-old transhumant beekeeper, who traveled there from San Bernardo, a southern suburb of Santiago, with his best 250 beehives.
Transhumant beekeeping was born out of the need to continue developing the beehives in the most suitable places.
“In the city, I can develop a hive thanks to the flowers in the gardens. In the mountains, there are native flowers with a high percentage of nectar and pollen. We look for places where the bees will thrive optimally,” he explained by phone from Puntra.
“Chiloe is not my home zone, but we start the year here. We have to let the hives winter. I did tests, and it turned out it’s better to come to Chiloe to wait for the start of the southern winter and leave here with the bees when summer begins in Chile. The queen has rested, and we take her to the north, where it is still winter, though not as severe, and there is an eucalyptus bloom,” he explained.
He added that during this period, “the bee cleans its house, becomes active, collects some pollen and nectar, and we start helping by leaving them honey and a treatment for moisture.”
In August, the pollination of blueberries and almonds begins in the north and central parts of Chile. In September, cherry trees bloom, and there is a second pollination, followed by the pollination of avocados (Persea americana) two months later.
“We produce very high-quality honey from native and virgin flowers because here, practically, no one touches the fields,” Gonzalez explained.
He highlighted tepu (Tepualia stipularis), tiaca (Caldcluvia paniculata), and ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia) as native flowers in Chiloe’s forests, ideal for the special pollination he seeks.
Gonzalez has been a beekeeper for 16 years and, since 2024, produces under the brand “Finis Terra, honey from the end of the world.”
“The Farmers’ Market is a fairly constant source, not with a large boom, but constant. We set up at the Plaza de Armas Market in San Bernardo, south of Santiago,” he said.
He has sold up to 1,000 kilograms of his honey per year.
“At Farmers’ Markets, people know the quality of the product. Sometimes I show videos of the processes, where we explain where we are, and what flowers the bees consume,” he emphasized.
A fully developed hive has between 60,000 to 70,000 bees, and Gonzalez has 250 hives, still far from the beekeepers in the neighboring municipality of Paine, adjacent to San Bernardo, who have up to 2,000.
From Computer Technician to Agricultural Supplier
Farmers’ Markets have been key to reactivating the post-pandemic economy, allowing families to stay active and competitive.
Eva Herrada sells her agricultural brand Campomix. She sets up every Friday at Plaza Perú in the upscale municipality of Las Condes, Santiago.
The day before, she harvests on the 1.5-hectare property she rents in the municipality of Lampa, 34 kilometers north of Santiago.
She offers vegetables and herbs grown without chemicals, packaged, clean, and ready to use.
“Our business is family-run. My father Efraín, 75 years old, my sister Karina, my husband, and I work together,” she told IPS.
A few years ago, she worked as a computer technician, but her business went bankrupt, and she decided to join agriculture.
“People here appreciate us, and that’s beautiful. It’s moving to see that people come happily to look for our products. They ask what we do to make the vegetables last so long, and they value the cleanliness and the fact that the product looks beautiful,” she said to IPS.
She added, “We work with clean agriculture, which means we provide the healthiest product, without pesticides.”
Before the pandemic, she sold her products in bulk. With Farmers’ Markets, she now sells directly to end consumers.
She’s happy because she studied to get certified in dehydration and recently bought a machine to process these products.
“Dehydrated products don’t spoil, they come sealed, and when needed, they can be eaten. In a natural disaster, an earthquake, or a storm, if people run out of food, they have dehydrated products that can be revived and eaten,” she explained.
Her only fear is that her land is rented.
“We had three hectares, but the person who rented to me asked for half of it, even though I was up to date on payments. It was very bad, sad, and serious because now this type of land is being used to build houses and apartments. I have a five-year contract, but if they end it early, I’ll be stuck. And I don’t have the money to buy,” she concluded.
First published in Spanish by IPS and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.