A Gourmet Food's Growing Pains

Trendy quinoa has helped Bolivia's farmers--but not without environmental and social problems

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Rising incomes from quinoa farming have lifted the education and living standards of rural families in the quinoa heartland of Potos, making it a strategic crop for Bolivia. The government says it's including quinoa in school breakfasts and offering $10 million in low-interest loans to farmers to make the food more affordable. Growers' associations say they're increasing the number of grazing llamas per acre to address erosion problems. And local producers haven't sold out to foreign agricultural conglomerates, which tend to strip farming communities of profits when their native crops go global, according to Aziz Elbehri, a senior economist at the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization. Those efforts won't shield farmers from a sharp price drop if the quinoa fad fizzles. Says Kerssen: "Quinoa is now a free-market phenomenon. This is a boom, and there's definitely going to be a bust."

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