Inside Banana Farming with Equal Exchange- Pt 2

CPW Director harvesting bananas in a Peruvian grove.

The UN has declared 2026 to be The Year of the Woman Farmer. On March 8th, we honor International Women’s Day. Additionally, March is Equal Exchange Banana Month! CPW Director Joleen Baker reflects on her once-in-a-lifetime trip to Rio y Valle in Peru with a group of cooperatives in the summer of 2025. Our friends at Equal Exchange hosted the trip, and it provided the opportunity to see where Fair Trade and organic bananas are grown, experience the process, and meet the growers.

Familial Nature of Banana Farming

“I was struck right away by the language used when talking about how bananas grow,” Joleen recalled. “Everything was centered around mothers and fathers and children and birth. The whole process is nurturing and respectful to the bananas and farmers and land.” Each plant is a life-giver, and each banana is an “offspring” to be cared for and handled gently so it can reach its full potential. The culture in Peru is to uplift women and their roles in the family and community, so it’s only natural that the plants are described using maternal terms.

Farming Equality at Rio y Valle

Empowering women in families and farms is a remarkable sight in Peru. The world of produce and agriculture is so often dominated by men, but here women are uplifted and men learn along side them. While the plans are nurtured, so is the soil. There is also a correlation of family words to describe aspects of banana growing. The farmers put ‘blankets’ between each banana in the bunch as it grows, so they form their own shape and don’t hurt or bruise each other. Just like babies in blankets needing gentle care. The air and the water also play critical roles in ensuring the best bananas are grown, packed, and shipped to our warehouse and retail partners.

Coming Full Circle

The Peruvian farmers were so interested in meeting the group and care very deeply for each banana that ends up on the co-op shelf. Connecting the farmers to the consumer with these stories brings a little bit of the experience back around full circle. The next time you shop for bananas, and you probably do every week, think about the farmers in Rio y Valle. Every twelve weeks, year-round, they are planting and growing, caring, and harvesting so we can all have sweet, ripe bananas in our homes. A little bit of Peru is in your kitchen every day. “It’s just bananas to us, but for them, it’s life.”

See Equal Exchange’s interview with Joleen here!