La Grama was founded in 2006, by three former organic inspectors. They spent two years travelling around rural Latin America to certify extremely diverse farms, from small-scale quinoa farmers in the highlands, to large banana-growing multinationals in Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. This experience heightened their awareness of the need to support small-scale farmers and impoverished agricultural communities – and they created La Grama to do just that.
The main crop we enjoy from La Grama is fresh, spicy ginger roots. “Ginger is an annual crop,” Diego says. “In Peru, it is planted in September and the first ginger is ready to harvest in May. This is called young ginger, and the quality is good enough for the local market. The first shipments by sea to Europe are ready in late June, when the ginger is mature enough to hold during the three-week journey.”
The farms La Grama work with are mostly small scale. This is for two reasons, explains Diego: “Because of an agricultural reform that happened around 50 years ago, land was confiscated by the government, split in small pieces and given away to a lot of people. Also, because of the difficult geography of the region (mountain combined with rainforest), it is not possible to mechanise production, so every single job on the farms has to be done by hand.”
This need for hand labour makes workers one of the biggest costs for the Peruvian farmers. Peru’s labour laws require growers to register employees and pay social welfare benefits to protect workers, but most companies don't comply, as doing so increases the cost of production significantly. La Grama however, do.
“In Peru, it is mandatory by this law to provide health insurance, a retirement pension fund, paid vacations, overtime payments, and a share of the company’s profits to every worker in the produce industry,” says Diego. “Despite this requirement, seven out of 10 people in Peru are not classed as ‘officially’ employed, and in the fresh produce industry, this number rises to 9.2 out of 10. If we consider that labour costs represent approximately 20 per cent of the cost of a box of ginger, it is clear how following the official route impacts costs.”
Farmers and their staff also benefit from La Grama’s commitment to organic, with a team of 31 expert agronomists on board to help them with a more sustainable way of farming.
“Unfortunately, in Peru pesticides that are forbidden in Europe or the US are still being used, especially by small scale farmers who haven’t received a good education and are often tricked by salesmen into using them,” says Diego. “Teaching these farmers to grow their crops organically not only protects them, their families and the environment from toxic pesticides, but also makes them less dependable on external farming inputs, use cheaper local resources and therefore make their farms more sustainable.”
“Additionally, organic farming has given them the opportunity to access international markets that value organic (compared to the local market where organic consumption is still insignificant), and therefore get better prices to invest not only in their farms, but in their families and improving their quality of life.”
