The small-scale farmers of the Surin Rice Fund Cooperative, Ltd. focus on promoting organic agriculture as a way to address rural poverty, improve the environment, and support sustainable community development.

Located near the Cambodian border, rice fields stretch to the horizon in the region, providing for a majority of the population both a source of livelihood and a basis for culture and religious beliefs.

Becoming Fair Trade Certified has supplied organic farmers with a guaranteed market and provided funding for the cooperative to teach more farmers about the benefits of organic production.

With proceeds from the Fair Trade social premium, the cooperative trains local villagers in the sorting and packaging processes, teaches farmers alternative agricultural techniques, and has purchased its own rice mill. A program called Local Wisdom Education promotes environmental stewardship to village children by teaching sustainable agricultural techniques, incorporating children into the conservation of the forests, and overseeing an organic garden in which children grow food to sell at the local organic farmers market.