San Vicente Cooperative Votes to Admit Forty-Three New Farms

The San Vicente Cooperative Council voted 8-3 on Tuesday to admit forty-three new smallholder farms to its membership rolls, ending a four-month review process that exposed deep rifts over who belongs and what they owe. The decision clears the way for nearly two hundred new workers and their families to access the cooperative's fair-price export agreements and shared equipment, but it also reveals mounting tension between established members who fear dilution of benefits and newer arrivals shut out of the formal economy.

The farms range from two to eight hectares, mostly family operations in the satellite valleys north of San Vicente. Many had been farming independently for years, selling to middlemen at volatile prices. Under the cooperative's standard terms, they will pay annual dues of twelve hundred florins per holding and commit to the council's quality and sustainability standards. The vote was not unanimous. Three council members, representing the largest established cooperatives, abstained or voted against, citing concerns about supervision capacity and the risk of admitting farms with inadequate water-management infrastructure.

The approval signals a shift in the cooperative's appetite for growth at a moment when federal registration delays have left many smallholders stranded outside formal schemes. Yet the debate also hints at a deeper question: as the cooperative expands, who decides what membership means, and whether expansion serves the whole membership or just the newest arrivals.