A More Benevolent Mousetrap

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Farmers in a Costa Rican banana cooperative were selling delicious banana vinegar out of plastic bottles in small grocery stores and roadside stands. The cooperative was certified organic, ready to export, and desperately seeking an international market. When Brooks and Zaidman got wind of its plans, they helped the company meet standards for distribution and eventually forged a partnership.

In negotiations with Whole Foods, the two disclosed all of their costs in order to arrive at a fair margin for everyone involved, particularly the farmers. At this, as Zaidman tells it, the buyers practically rolled their eyes. "We were being more transparent than anyone is used to," he recalls. "Everyone expects negotiations to be a poker game where you show some cards and hold others. Instead we opened and showed our hand totally."

Transparency worked. Whole Foods buyers not only signed on to stock Kopali Organic's wares, they offered the fledgling company signage and marquis shelf placement at 23 markets. The company even equipped each Kopali display with a looping video telling the human and ecological story behind the food products, which now include dried fruit, honey, and preserves produced by Mexican farmers, in addition to the original banana vinegar.

Organics is the latest in Brooks and Zaidman's family of radical ventures, both nonprofit and for-profit, all linked with Costa Rica. There's an educational tour and travel company, an 85-acre off-the-grid organic farm and educational retreat center, and a fledgling real estate development project that is buying former farmland to create ecological villages.

Brooks and Zaidman hope to set up satellite offices in other countries to develop new products and serve small farmers. And in May they're rolling out a television pilot on the Travel Channel that will endeavor to feature sustainable agriculture projects in 13 countries. "Once upon a time, farmers got most of every dollar that was spent on food. Today, they get almost none of it," says Zaidman. "Capitalism as usual hasn't worked for them, so we have to change the rules of the game."

Organic Valley
A profitable co-op that still cares about small farmers

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