San Vicente Cooperative Opens Door to Fifty New Member-Farms

On Tuesday evening, the San Vicente Cooperative Council voted 47 to 19 to admit fifty new member-farms to the collective after a two-year backlog of applications sat in the registry. The vote came after heated testimony from smallholders who said the old credential standards—which required three consecutive years of organic certification and proof of water-conservation practice—had locked many valley farmers out of access to the federal fair-price scheme.

The new standard will accept farms with one year of certified organic practice and a signed water-management agreement. Council members said the change reflects both the reality of smallholder economics and the region's urgent need to expand the cooperative's tax base as federal tariff pressures squeeze export margins.

The vote marks a turning point in a years-long friction between the Cooperative Council's leadership and the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs in Meridian, which had flagged the old vetting process as too restrictive. It also signals a shift in how the valley's agricultural sector approaches the balance between membership standards and economic survival.