San Vicente Cooperative Admits 47 New Farms Amid Dues Dispute

The San Vicente Agricultural Cooperative held its quarterly assembly on Saturday morning in the cooperative's timber hall on Avenida Esperanza, where more than two hundred members gathered to vote on a proposal to expand membership. The motion passed with 61 percent support, admitting the new farms to the cooperative's collective marketing scheme and federal price-support network. Yet the vote exposed a widening split between established mid-size holdings and a growing cohort of newer, smaller farms seeking affordable entry to the cooperative's infrastructure.

The dues question has become acute. The cooperative's current fee structure — a flat annual charge plus a percentage of harvest value — was designed when membership hovered around 280 farms. Expanding to 327 farms without adjusting the formula means the per-farm cost either rises or the cooperative's operating budget shrinks. At Saturday's assembly, members debated whether to raise dues, absorb the cost through lower per-unit payouts, or create a tiered fee for farms under a certain acreage threshold.

The vote to admit the 47 farms was conditional: the assembly formed a special committee to recommend a new dues structure by the end of October. The committee will report to the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs in Meridian, which must approve any change to the fee schedule before it takes effect. The outcome will set a precedent for other regional cooperatives facing similar membership pressure.