ACOES Cooperative

The Association of Organic Coffee Farmers of Western El Salvador (ACOES) is a non-profit, apolitical farmer organization which brings together farming families from the coffee communities of Tacuba, El Salvador. ACOES was formed by its members as a medium to seek opportunities to improve their livelihoods in an environmentally sound way. ACOES was officially legalized in 2007, with the participation of 25 members representing an estimated 200 individuals. ACOES receives support from Advising and Interdisciplinary Research for Local Development and Conservation (ASINDEC), a non-profit research foundation that grew out of a Participatory Action Research (PAR)³ process between ACOES farmers and Salvadoran researchers working in the areas of agroecology, rural development and environmental conservation. The network that has expanded from ASINDEC and ACOES includes The University of Vermont's Agroecology and Rural Livelihoods Group⁴, the Community Agroecology Network (CAN), and individuals that support research and development activities in Tacuba.

Members of ACOES have been part of the CAN network since CAN's formation in 2001, but their organizational structure has changed considerably over the years.

Recent accomplishment for the work of ACOES is the formation of the El Salvador Coffee Communities Fund, managed by the University of Vermont, and directed by Professor Ernesto Mendez, and their first sale to Cooperative Coffees, a roaster cooperative based in the U.S. and Canada.