Are Prices Fair Along Quinoa’s Supply Chain?
By Leah Dobkin – as printed in O.W.N. Spring 2008 Last September, Organic & Wellness News took part in a press mission to Ecuador that included visiting organic projects, quinoa farmer cooperatives from Riobamba among them. The cooperatives receive 39 cents/lb for organic quinoa (27cents/lb for conventional). Back in Canada on a trip to Farm Boy, a local grocery store chain in Ottawa, Adriana Michael, publisher of Organic & Wellness News, discovered organic quinoa from Bob’s Red Mill, a US based wholesaler who buys the organic quinoa from ERPE’s cooperatives in Ecuador, via Importer Inca Organics. The quinoa package of 725 grms on the retail shelf had a price tag of 8,99 CAD ($8,89 US). Surprised of the difference in price from producer to end consumer for a product with no significant added value, Michael wondered what the costs were along the distribution chain, and if the system and price structure is fair to farmers and consumers? Are there hidden costs, or are there just too many
