PHOTOS COURTESY OF © JUAN FRANCISCO GARCÍA COMPARINI FOUNDATION
A firm foundation
Costco purchases support Guatemalan communities’ prosperity drive
No matter how or where family farmers grow food, pride is the main ingredient. You see it everywhere in Costco warehouses, which feature the best from family farmers around the world.
One such place is Guatemala, where family farmers supply Costco with a wide array of produce year-round: sweet baby carrots, organic zucchini, conventional and organic French green beans, English shelled peas, sugar snap peas, Brussels sprouts, broccoli tender stems, cauli orini and baby corn.
Costco buyers recognize the care the farmers take in their crops, produced in some of the richest soil anywhere and harvested by hand.
Behind the scenes, an impressive education, training and development network has been built for Guatemalan farmers and their communities, thanks to a benevolent organization called the Juan Francisco García Comparini Foundation.
Vanessa García (right), executive director, at the Child Care Centre.
The beginning
The foundation was started in 2007 by Guatemalan agribusinessman Tulio García Sr., in the name of his late son, Juan Francisco García Comparini (see “Reaching for the top”), who passed away in a car accident three years earlier. Costco had developed an interest in Guatemalan produce and recognized the challenges facing the country’s farmers and citizens overall.
Guatemala is one of Central America’s poorest countries. Infrastructure is lacking. Rural areas receive little government support for education and schools. Income is limited. Highly skewed land distribution means many family vegetable farms are tiny, not much more than a few thousand square feet. Job opportunities are few, and education is often sacrificed. All this creates a stubborn poverty cycle.
So with Costco’s support, Tulio and the three companies that coordinate the production and export of Guatemalan produce established the Juan Francisco García Comparini Foundation. The organization is based in San Juan Sacatepéquez, about 32 kilometres from Guatemala City.
A portion of the proceeds from each case of produce the companies sell to Costco goes to the foundation to help farmers and assist communities with social responsibility initiatives. The projects include creating jobs, building housing, providing food and supporting scholarships that help people finish school.
Family-farm produce grown in Guatemala.
Strong roots
Vanessa García, a cousin of Juan Francisco, was the foundation’s first employee in 2007. Today, as executive director, she has overseen its growth to 15 employees and an annual budget of US$210,000.
“A steady farm income really helps farmers,” she says, “but we knew more still had to be done to enrich the lives of them and their families.”
With support from Costco, the foundation takes a holistic look at rural Guatemalans’ needs. First, the foundation knows farming sustainability improves with technology, so it provides credit to farmers to buy and install improved irrigation systems and greenhouses. It invests in entrepreneurship, so farmers can open small businesses— most recently, a hatchery, a bakery and a restaurant. García, a trained industrial psychologist, helps the businesses with their planning.
The foundation also supports tree nursery production for reforestation on environmentally sensitive land. Last year its funding went toward 120,000 cypress, pine and cedar trees for this purpose.
As well, the foundation invests in preventing malnutrition, which García calls the country’s main health problem. It supports child care centres in rural areas where mothers working in the fields can take their children and make sure they are properly nourished.
The foundation also provides one-year scholarships to train mostly Indigenous people to learn English, computer skills and job training, and places up to 60 participants every year in call centres, hotels and nongovernment organizations, in jobs where knowing English is important.
And finally, the foundation supports Guatemalan agricultural workers with temporary jobs on farms in California and New York. The workers return to Guatemala and invest their income back in their communities. They might build houses, buy land and expand their farms; open small businesses; and provide better education and living conditions for their families.
As well, in the U.S. they learn new growing techniques they can take back home. “Good agricultural practices and training help growers regardless of their size or what country they’re located in,” says García. “We are seeing improvement.”
Reaching for the top
Just 23 when he died, Juan Francisco García Comparini already had big dreams— like becoming president of Guatemala.
“Those close to him believed he would do it,” says his cousin Vanessa García, who heads the Juan Francisco García Comparini Foundation. “He had all the traits of a leader—compassion, generosity, intelligence and vision.”
Juan Francisco saw jobs and education as keys to people’s prosperity. “He wanted to change Guatemala’s history,” says García. “We’re proud that the foundation bears his name.”—OR
Costco Connection: Costco warehouses sell a variety of vegetables, the sale of which benefits the Juan Francisco García Comparini Foundation.