page 23

molino santa rosa: production for and by local poeple in uruguay

carlos reyes and alberto vilarreal, redes/ friends of the earth uruguay

Molino Santa Rosa was once a flourishing mill and the biggest employer in Santa Rosa , a rural town of 3,500 people near Montevideo in Uruguay . Traditionally, the area had a vibrant agricultural sector dominated by small and medium-sized family farms producing fruit, vegetables and some grain and poultry. Farmers sold their crops and animals in the market in Montevideo and to the dynamic agroindustries that flourished nearby.

However, market opening policies in the 1980s and 90s caused economic chaos in Uruguay . In particular, agricultural liberalization and cheap imports wreaked havoc on the farming community. This, together with the recent financial crisis, led to a crisis in this net food exporting country, even though it can feed 10 or 20 times its own population. Competition from bigger companies also led to difficulties for Molino Santa Rosa, and its owners closed it – twice in fact, once in 1987 and again in 1998.

workers' cooperative welcomed

Happily, however, Molino Santa Rosa is today operated and managed successfully by a local workers' cooperative founded in 1999 by many of the mill's former employees. They were able to negotiate a very favorable contract with the public bank, Banco República, thus securing jobs and rescuing one of the main engines of local economic development. More than 70 families are now directly associated with the self-managed mill, including coop members, employees, farmers and service providers. It is the largest employer in town, and pays triple the wages of the local poultry industry. The mill is also contributing to a renaissance in local farming. Most of the milling products are based on wheat, part of which is bought directly from family farms no bigger than 40 hectares. The mill is also diversifying into other locally-produced family farm products, including GM-free corn flour (to cook polenta) and chick pea flour (to make ‘faina', a traditional pancake-like bread). Similarly, in April 2004 the mill established an agreement with a subsidiary of the biggest dairy industry in the country, CONAPROLE (itself a national farmers' cooperative) to provide good quality animal feed for its dairy cow farmers in Uruguay 's southern provinces. the return of the white bean Winter white beans – like chick peas, a traditional crop abandoned in the face of cheap imports – have also been reintroduced by the cooperative's farmers. White beans used to be an important part of farmers' food security during the winter, and this development is critically important for local and national food security, as well forming as an excellent way of using spare threshing and packaging capacity. The milled and packaged products are sold mainly to nearby small and medium-sized bakeries, pasta manufacturers and retailers.

The new center-left government views this workers' cooperative as a promising model, and may help to replicate it elsewhere in the country. Additionally, the Sustainable Uruguay program, coordinated by REDES/Friends of the Earth Uruguay and other civil society organizations including farmers, is calling on the government to revive the national food program, Subsistencias, by buying locally produced, organic products from family farms and processed food stuffs from workers' cooperatives such as Molino Santa Rosa.