The Biggest Threat to Andean Quinoa Farmers Isn’t Hipsters and Soccer Moms
It’s industrial quinoa
This story continues our partnership with New Worlder, the site that responsibly covers food and drink, chefs and restaurants, farmers, fishermen, and conservationists of the Americas in a way that appeals to both an American and a Latin American audience.
By Nicholas Gill
The arid, cold, and windswept altiplano, the Andean plateau that rises 12,000 feet above sea level and straddles the border of Peru and Bolivia, is where most of the world’s quinoa has traditionally been grown. Yields are small here, though there aren’t a lot of pests or diseases.
The unpredictable landscape requires farmers to often plant more than a dozen varieties at a time, ensuring some will withstand fluctuations in temperature and rainfall, while pasturing llamas on fallow fields, then rotating them to another, stabilizes the soil and minimizes environmental impact. Several thousand years of cultivation has led to astounding agricultural biodiversity, though it could all be undone by the choices you make at the supermarket.
