Región de Coquimbo Earth Market

The central-northern Chilean cities of Coquimbo and La Serena are 15 kilometers apart. Together, they form a metropolitan area with a population of over 300,000, bordering the Atacama region to the north and the Valparaiso region to the south. These vastly different environments produce a wide variety of foods.

The first EcoFeria was started in Coquimbo in 2014, thanks to the work of a group of small-scale producers. After a year, the experience was replicated in La Serena. Now, 23 producers— mostly women—travel from all over the region and the surrounding valleys to the markets held in the two cities. Together they form a single, itinerant Earth Market.

The markets always open with a small ritual of music played on traditional flutes called tarkas. They are held three times a month: on the first Saturday of the month in Coquimbo (in La Herradura) and on the first and third Friday of the month in La Serena (in Plaza Millbrae).

Visitors to the markets can buy fruit, vegetables, eggs, bread and other baked goods, goat cheeses and other raw-milk dairy products, preserves, beer, medicinal herbs, honey and other bee products, natural cosmetics and even books on topics relating to food and agriculture.

For more informations check-out the Fb page of the project:
https://www.facebook.com/MercadodelaTierraRegionCoquimbo

The Región de Coquimbo Earth Market has been launched thanks to the support of the Ford Foundation.