Cooperative Council Approves 12 New Farms Amid Membership Backlog

On Tuesday afternoon the San Vicente Cooperative Council gathered in the community hall to consider the admission of new member farms. The meeting, open to all cooperative members, ran for three hours and concluded with a decisive vote to admit twelve smallholder operations into the cooperative’s fair‑price network.

The council’s resolution raised the total number of member farms to 274 and set the annual dues for the newcomers at ₣120 per hectare, a rate aligned with the cooperative’s latest sustainability budget. Representatives from each applicant farm presented brief statements outlining their production capacities and commitment to organic practices.

The approval came despite a growing backlog in land‑registration that has left many prospective members waiting months for official titles, a problem the Federal Office for Cooperative Affairs has acknowledged but not yet resolved. Council members said the decision would be reviewed at the next regional assembly, and the cooperative’s next steps will be detailed in the following pages.