San Vicente Cooperative Votes to Admit Forty New Farms in Contentious Session

The Cooperative Council of San Vicente met on Tuesday evening to vote on admitting forty new smallholder farms to the federation. The vote passed 58 to 47, the narrowest margin in the council's recent history. The farms—most under five hectares, several newly registered with the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs—represent the largest single cohort admitted in a single session since 2021.

The debate that preceded the vote lasted more than three hours. Established members, particularly those from the coffee-growing counties to the south, raised concerns about diluting voting power and straining the cooperative's shared processing facilities. Newer members and representatives from the yerba mate valleys to the north argued that exclusion contradicts the cooperative's founding mandate to serve all smallholders in good standing with federal registration.

The vote reflects a broader tension within Tierra Verde's agricultural federation: how fast to grow, who decides membership, and whether rapid expansion strengthens or fractures the consensus that has held the cooperative together for three decades. The council's leadership has promised a review of admissions procedures by year's end.