For Women Farmers, ‘Every Step We Take Opens A Door’

Danielle Nierenberg

Danielle Nierenberg 

During my time ground-truthing in Guatemala, I had the privilege of spending an amazing day with women coffee farmers who are part of the Asociación De Agricultores Tinecos (ADAT) co-op.

The co-op is an incredibly powerful model: The women can sell their coffee directly to coffee shops, rather than having to go through middle-men. They’re involved in every part of the supply chain, from planting to harvesting to roasting to selling—which gives them influence and access to resources that are sadly not always afforded to women farmers. 

I asked the women of ADAT what advice they had for other women farmers around the world.

“Cada paso que damos abre una puerta para otra mujer. Organizarnos nos ayudó mejorar nuestro producto, para tener la mejor calidad; pero sin las herramientas necesarias no llegaríamos lejos. Hoy sabemos que las mujeres merecemos participar y aprender en toda la cadena: desde sembrar hasta comercializar. Queremos que nuestro café sea reconocido a nivel internacional — Café de la Mata — a la taza, café de la sierra de los Cuchumatanes Guatemala con rostro de mujer.”

“Every step we take opens a door for another woman,” said group members, initially in the Spanish above, after holding a workshop to communally phrase their advice. “Organizing ourselves helped us improve our product, to have the best quality; but without the necessary tools, we would not get far. Today we know that women deserve to participate and learn throughout the chain: from planting to marketing. We want our coffee to be recognized internationally—Café de la Mata—in your cup, coffee from the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes in Guatemala, with a woman's face.”

This focus on organizing and collaboration, the women told me, is how they’re able to participate so meaningfully in each step of the coffee value chain. For example, they’re working with a youth-focused organization to learn coffee roasting. They collaborate with an organization CARE Guatemala to help “transform the coffee value chain by positioning women producers as key actors in production, transformation, and commercialization processes.”

But these farmers and other women across Guatemala continue to face significant challenges. About 2.6 million Guatemalans experience high levels of acute food insecurity. Seven out of 10 people in poverty live in rural agricultural areas, but their subsistence farming is jeopardized since Guatemala is one of the top ten countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change.

And sweeping cuts to global foreign aid programs like USAID are making things even more precarious. Take CARE, for example: The organization has existed since 1959 to address economic disparities, gender equity and safety, and inclusive sustainability. But the dismantling of USAID threatens CARE’s ability to continue supporting changemakers like the women of ADAT, and has also severely restricted CARE’s work on gender-based violence and reproductive healthcare rights—affecting not just farmers but all women everywhere.

Empowering women is the solution to building a nourished, resilient planet! 

When women have equitable access to financial resources—as I heard firsthand from women farmers in ADAT—they not only improve their own lives and livelihoods but become better equipped to nourish their entire communities, too.

Now is the time to rally behind the women farmers all across the globe who fuel our food and agriculture systems!

This year, 2026, is the International Year of the Woman Farmer. The FAO has plenty of recommendations for policymakers, business leaders, academics, and investors to take action—and citizen eaters and Food Tankers also have vital roles to play. 

Let’s prioritize buying ingredients from women farmers, producers, and cooperative networks. Let’s visit women-led local markets; let’s support labor unions and other collective action for gender rights; and let’s mentor the next generation of women food system leaders. In short: Let’s use the International Year of the Woman Farmer as an opportunity to recommit ourselves to taking steps that, to paraphrase the women of ADAT, open the door to a more locally rooted, equitable future of food sovereignty.

In the meantime, I plan to continue to share insights from my ground-truthing in Guatemala, so stay tuned for more installments of our ‘On the Ground with Dani Nierenberg’ series. A big thanks to CARE Guatemala for hosting me.

Before another ground-truthing trip last summer, in Ethiopia, I encouraged Food Tankers to spend some time ground-truthing in our own communities. Now, I want to follow up: What stories have you heard from local farmers, chefs, policy advocates, or other citizen eaters? Drop me a note at danielle@foodtank.com, and let’s continue discussing how we can build food sovereignty from the ground up, all around the world.

(Danielle Nierenberg is the President of Food Tank and can be reached at danielle@foodtank.com)