When you look at our current food system, it’s easy to see the broken links between the people who produce food and the corporate and governing bodies that control its production. Too often, this results in unjust wages for rural workers, lack of economic mobility, and overall poorer livelihoods.
Nicaragua’s Association of Rural Workers—Asociación de Trabajadores del Campo (ATC)—was founded in 1978. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for rural communities by promoting food sovereignty, strengthening local economies, and supporting movements across Central America led by small-scale farmers and food producers working for a better life.
Historically, ATC has played a critical role in assembling farmers and workers to advocate for land reform and improved education and literacy. Gathering strength from the ground up, ATC continues to organize rural workers into unions and farmers into cooperatives to press for living wages and energize local economies. Currently, ATC unites over 50,000 individuals in 134 labor unions and 254 cooperatives across Central America.
ATC puts power back in the hands of the people that produce our food by training farmers in sustainable, agroecological food production and building collective power through community organizing. Through advocating for food sovereignty and linking rural communities to larger economic opportunities, ATC is an important vehicle of empowerment in Nicaragua and beyond.
For more on the great work ATC has been doing, click here.
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