{"id":19071,"date":"2023-04-12T22:24:51","date_gmt":"2023-04-12T22:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/?page_id=19071"},"modified":"2023-04-13T00:02:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T00:02:53","slug":"cooperativa-loncomilla","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/cooperativa-loncomilla\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperativa Loncomilla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Loncomilla Cooperative. Small-scale producers\u2019 Organization.\u00a0 [San Javier de Loncomilla, Maule Region, Chile].<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To preserve<\/em><\/strong> t. v. To keep safe from damage, deterioration, loss or undesirable change.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Growth <\/em><\/strong>u. n. the process of developing or of increasing in size<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When you cross the Loncomilla river, you can see trucks loaded with grapes lining up to enter the cooperative\u2019s wineries. It\u2019s harvest season and the hundred active partners of the Loncomilla Cooperative have sent their grapes in to start the 2022 wine production. \u201cThe work done during the year ends here. Here, we determine whether the work was done well\u201d<\/em><\/strong>, explains Emilio, an agronomist. With his colleague Alexis, they\u2019re in charge of coordinating, advising and accompanying those small-scale producers\u2014symbol of resilience and adaptability. \u201cHere you got to do it all, even the job of a psychologist<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> [Emilio Fuentes, agronomist].<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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The Loncomilla Cooperative is located in a town with the same name, San Javier de Loncomilla. It\u2019s in the Maule region, one of Chile\u2019s most prominent winemaking areas. It\u2019s characterized by the Uva Pa\u00eds grape production. <\/em>Grapesthat come from the \u201ccriolla or patrimonial grape[1]<\/a> are more valuable because they root deep and have adapted much more naturally\u201d<\/em> <\/strong>to the local drylands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Founded in 1959 in a country where cooperatives aren\u2019t accepted, it survived Pinochet\u2019s military regime and kept on growing. In the beginning, \u201cthe cooperative started by renting out a winery\u201d<\/em><\/strong> [Alvaro Mu\u00f1oz, General Manager]. <\/em>Today, surrounded by concrete and stainless-steel vats that can hold up to 22 million liters of wine, they tell us the story of the technical and productive development achieved thanks to the cooperative\u2019s hard work.\u00a0 There are many challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For 13 years now, Chile has been struggling with a water crisis. A crisis made worse in the region due to the extensive pine and eucalyptus plantations. These were encouraged years ago for wood and cellulose production. \u201cThe drought hit us hard\u2026 these last years [\u2026]and with all the pines they planted (\u2026) the fires [\u2026] they suck up loads of water, there isn\u2019t a drop left (\u2026) they dried it all out.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>[Pedro Gonz\u00e1lez, Small-scale producer].<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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In this region, the grapes depend on the rain. As it\u2019s a dryland region, they don\u2019t irrigate and there\u2019s increasingly less rain. \u201cBefore there were weeks of rain, the vineyard was completely flooded<\/em>\u201d <\/em><\/strong>[Mireya Sepulveda, producer],<\/em> \u201cwhen I was a kid, we had about a month of rain\u2026 now it\u2019s been years<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> [Osvaldo Rojas, harvester]<\/em>, \u201cit keeps on raining less<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> [\u00c1lvaro Mu\u00f1oz, General Manager].<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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On the other hand, technical and productive improvements are required given the ruthless whims of the global market and the cooperative\u2019s determination to be competitive. This is no easy task for many small-scale producers. They\u2019ve been doing things a certain way for many years and most of them aren\u2019t getting any younger. Without the cooperative\u2019s technical support, they would struggle \u201cto get the job done<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> [Alexis Ramirez; Agronomist]<\/em> and survive. This is why Alfonso, an oenologist from the large plantations quickly adds \u201cit isn\u2019t just any business […] it\u2019s not just about numbers, it\u2019s way more social, there\u2019s a whole world behind it […] that goes way beyond just making wine. \u201c<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Loncomilla is clearly committed to the environment, social matters and Fair Trade. The 22 million liters of wine produced there meet the high standards of production and traceability[<\/strong><\/a>2<\/a><\/strong>]<\/strong><\/a> required for Fairtrade certification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is no small matter for a cooperative with barely 100 active partners. It takes a great deal of effort and commitment from the small technical farm and winery team to manage to ensure that all grape growers keep their field notebooks in which they record product applications up to date and that they meet the standard of using environmentally-friendly products. They also make sure that the Fairtrade-certified grapes are crushed and de-vatted in the partner\u2019s vats in proper sanitary conditions and that they comply with the risk prevention protocols \u201calways trying to set an example and promoting sustainable practices<\/em>\u201d<\/strong> [Claudia Cancino Risk Management and Certifications]<\/em>. A complicated task in a place where labor is becomingincreasingly scarce while the turnover rate keeps on rising. Last but not least, they verify that the small-scale producers are able to harvest grapes with the help of workers under fair working conditions.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Every day, the Loncomilla Cooperative strives to grow and make quality wines with patrimonial grapes such as the Uva Pa\u00eds and the White Ovoid Grape all while meeting Fairtrade conditions. They\u2019ve committed to the environment and sustainable productivity growth for different reasons. Firstly, because, as the rightful inhabitants of the area, the Criolla grapes[<\/strong><\/a>3<\/a><\/strong>]<\/strong><\/a> are adapted to dryland conditions and aren\u2019t a threat to their environment. Secondly, today, small-scale producers can keep on living off their vineyards without having to pull them out to replace them with more high-yielding plantations such as pines, which are clearly a threat to the environment. And finally, because, as the general manager Alvaro says \u201cwhat best defines this cooperative is that there\u2019s strength in numbers<\/em>\u201d and that\u2019s exactly what history tells us: they started without a winery and now they\u2019re bottling quality Fairtrade wine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Loncomilla Cooperative and its small-scale producers are making quality wine with responsible industrial growth while complying with the environmental development requirements of Fairtrade Certification. <\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1] Patrimonial vines are the first varieties exported to Chile during the Spanish colonization. They were planted 200 years ago, at least. They can be found in the Maule region drylands.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]In order to become Fairtrade certified, small-scale producers\u2019 organisations have to meet Fairtrade standards. htt<\/a>ps:\/\/files.fairtrade.net\/standards\/SPO_SP.pdf that are audited by an outside firm (FLOCERT) every XXX years. This involves a significant effort in terms of human and financial resources, which shows their commitment to Fair Trade.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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[3]<\/a> Used as a synonym of Patrimonial Grapes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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To preserve t. v. To keep safe from damage, deterioration, loss or undesirable change. Growth u. n. the process of developing or of increasing in size When you cross the Loncomilla river, you can see trucks loaded with grapes lining up to enter the cooperative\u2019s wineries. It\u2019s harvest season and the hundred active partners of …<\/p>\n

Cooperativa Loncomilla<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","_eb_attr":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","_jet_sm_ready_style":"","_jet_sm_style":"","_jet_sm_controls_values":"","_jet_sm_fonts_collection":"","_jet_sm_fonts_links":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19071","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"woocommerce_thumbnail":false,"woocommerce_single":false,"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":false,"quick_view_image_size":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Paty Villar\u00e1n","author_link":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/author\/paty-villaran\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"To preserve t. v. To keep safe from damage, deterioration, loss or undesirable change. Growth u. n. the process of developing or of increasing in size When you cross the Loncomilla river, you can see trucks loaded with grapes lining up to enter the cooperative\u2019s wineries. It\u2019s harvest season and the hundred active partners of…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19071\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-dev.clac-comerciojusto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}