In recent years, Americans looking for a healthy food to add to their plates have turned to quinoa. The tiny, gluten-free seed — which is packed with fiber, protein and minerals — has earned a reputation as a “superfood” and a dietary staple among health nuts.
But as quinoa skyrockets in popularity and price, some have begun questioning the ethics of consuming the once-inexpensive crop as poor families struggle to afford it and violent battles break out over rights to profitable farmland.
Largely grown in the Andean region of South America, quinoa is one of a few crops that thrive in high-altitude regions. The vegetable is a close relative of beets and has become a favorite among First-World foodies, allowing quinoa farmers to charge a lot more for their yield.
Beneficial or detrimental to Bolivia?
The rising prices have raised concern about natives’ ability to afford and eat the food. National Public Radio reported last fall that many farmers have stopped eating the “nutrient-dense pseudo-grain” themselves, preferring to sell it instead. Many of the region’s poorest residents, who once were easily able to afford quinoa, have also been affected. Many of these natives have had to change their diets to include more refined grains and sugars.
The Bolivian government reported in 2011 that consumption of quinoa in the past five years had decreased by 34 percent, resulting in concerns of malnutrition in the quinoa heartland. Growers have admitted they are tempted to sell their entire harvest while prices are high.
Tanya Kerssen, a research coordinator for the U.S.-based food and development institute Food First, writes that the Bolivian government is offering low-interest loans to small farmers in an attempt to increase the supply and drive down the price of quinoa. However, the strategy may be too little, too late, according to Kerssen.
“Quinoa is now a free-market phenomenon. This is a boom, and there’s definitely going to be a bust,” she writes.
Still, others insist the higher demand and prices have actually benefitted natives economically.
Stefan Jeremiah is a documentarian living in Bolivia while he works on a film about quinoa production. Though half of the world’s quinoa supply is produced in Bolivia, he says that he has yet to speak to a farmer in the Altiplano region of Bolivia that has stopped eating quinoa because of its price. In reality, the situation is more complex, he argues.
“As farmers become more well off, their eating habits become diversified as they can afford to eat other foods. They CHOOSE to eat pasta or rice because of its increased availability and, to them, because of its novelty. In Bolivia, the social stigma is that quinoa is still a poor person’s food, not a Whole Foods hot commodity,” he wrote.
The benefits extend beyond the dinner table. Benjamin Huarachi, 55, a Bolivian quinoa farmer, said that “thanks to quinoa,” 70 percent of the region’s high school graduates can now afford to attend university.
“In 1983, 100 lb. of quinoa sold for 25 bolivianos — the price a T-shirt,” he said. “Now that sack goes for $100 [700 bolivianos]. That’s a lot of T-shirts.”
Violent harvest
Despite the influx of cash, not all farmers agree that the growing interest in quinoa is beneficial. Carlos Nina, a local leader in Bolivia’s quinoa heartland, said that while the price of quinoa is increasing, so is tension over property rights.
Global warming means fewer frosts in the quinoa-growing region of Bolivia, which has led in turn to an increase in land available for farming. According to Time magazine, in February 2012 hundreds of farmers fought for three days over the rights to previously abandoned land. Four people were kidnapped, dozens were injured, and a dynamite blast took one man’s arms, Time reported.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” Nina said, adding that because the government has ignored requests for the military to monitor quinoa harvests, the situation will likely get worse.
“Every week, I visit two or three communities with land disputes related to quinoa,” he said, explaining that many families don’t have land titles since they weren’t needed when the ample arid soil was largely used for herding llamas.
Nina added that “territorial bickering” has become an issue since quinoa’s high sale price has attracted profit-seekers who left the region years ago but still claim ownership of some property.
U.S. production boom
Since a consensus has yet to be reached on whether or not the quinoa boom is beneficial to South American farmers, some quinoa lovers have pledged to keep their consumption of the superfood in moderation and continue tracking the social and economic impact the crop has on Andean region natives.
Others, concerned about the negative impact quinoa has on Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, have stopped buying it from South America, seeking out U.S.-grown quinoa instead. For example, White Mountain Farm grows quinoa in Colorado.
Kevin Murphy, a Washington State University grain breeder, has worked for several years developing quinoa varieties that can grow in North America. He said he doesn’t see any reason quinoa won’t flourish in the U.S. and predicts quinoa production will spread around the globe.