Resistance in Chile against Coexca and its factory pig farms

For over ten years, the industrial pig farming company Coexca, backed by Chilean and Danish capital, has been denounced on multiple occasions by the community of San Javier (Maule, Chile) for its environmental, social and economic impacts on the area. The population has been subjected in particular to persistent foul odours, fly infestations, water contamination and financial losses that have significantly diminished its quality of life. GRAIN has previously analysed how Coexca is part of a wave of agribusiness projects being driven by private equity firms in southern countries.

In its 2023 report, Coexca mentions that it markets its products in Chile under its own brands such as “Campo Noble” and “Mayoral”, as well as the Cencosud group’s “Cuisine & Co” brand. The company mainly supplies large supermarket chains, including Jumbo, Santa Isabel, Tottus and Walmart. Coexca also exports its production, mainly to China, Japan, Korea, Colombia and Europe.

In 2020, after years of complaints, the Chilean Supreme Court acknowledged that Coexca was violating the local population’s constitutional right to live in a pollution-free environment. The community, supported by various Chilean civil society organisations, succeeded in having the company sanctioned and obliged to fulfil its environmental responsibilities. However, Coexca has failed to take adequate remedial action for the damage it has caused. And so, the fight continues.

GRAIN has interviewed a representative of the people of Maule to better understand the principal problems that factory farming is causing for local communities, and how their resistance can be strengthened.

Maule Sur Por la Vida (MSPV): The affected population is made up of farmers, pensioners or retired people. A few have also come from the capital, Santiago, to resettle in the countryside.

Most of the people who work the land are peasant farmers with small flocks of sheep, or some cattle or horses, for example. The principal crops they grow are wheat, oats, maize, potatoes, beans, watermelons, tomatoes, melons and vegetables in general, and are dependent on rainfall, as most of the community does not have irrigated plots.

The community is currently losing its older generation of farmers, some of whom have died, others who have sold their land due to pressure from agribusiness and the pollution it causes.

Recently, people from the city have arrived, mainly the sons and daughters of former residents of the area who had plots of land in San Javier.

In the affected area, part of the city of San Javier, approximately 17% of the population farms their own plots of land. The rest has been forced to work for agribusiness or in precarious construction-related jobs in the region’s urban areas.

Meanwhile, big investment funds have bought up land, generating a speculative market that has led to some 15,000 hectares being acquired by these funds in the region, both for agribusiness and urbanisation. This new land grabbing has caused the peasant population to be displaced.

A significant part of the population also works on Maule’s rapidly-expanding monoculture tree plantations. In 2024, they represented some 23% of all existing plantations in Chile.

The majority of the population of San Javier are elderly people who, despite their age and desire for a more peaceful life, have been forced to resist the expansion of Coexca’s factory farms and other agribusiness activities.

MSPV: It all started in 2008 with the arrival of agribusiness investors such as Coexca and several big property developers, who began to buy land in the area, taking advantage of a change in legislation that allowed them to set up their operations without any approved environmental impact studies (the company denies this claim). In 2015, Coexca began construction of its factory farm.

We did not receive any communication from Coexca, the authorities or any other institution about what was going to be built. Rumours soon began to circulate in the neighbourhood that heavy machinery was being moved and large-scale construction equipment had arrived. We realised that a mega industrial pig farm was going to be built, which has expanded year-on-year ever since. Today, the farm has 25 buildings across 1,000 hectares of land. These farm buildings are only the first stage, as we have heard that they intend to expand further.

After construction began, the community began to protest, forcing the company to submit a request to the state for an Environmental Qualification Resolution (RCA). This is a kind of feasibility study for the project, where the investors describe the current state of the area and make a sort of prediction as to what might happen in the future with their industrial rationale. But this RCA was purely a descriptive study of what the company was operating. It was not an estimate of what might happen and how it would affect the areas near the pig farm located in Arbolillo, which is part of the municipality of San Javier.

In 2019, the serious impacts of odours, pollution and an increase in disease vectors in the community became clear. That same year on 17 September, the day before the Chilean national holiday, the company obtained its environmental qualification during a closed session of the environmental authorities, held without the community’s knowledge.

This RCA was granted to the company despite complaints brought by the people in Chile’s environmental courts. We believe that the RCA was given to Coexca because of the political pressure they exert on a regional and national level (for example, they have hired over 50 lawyers and lobbyists to put pressure on the authorities).

The complaints were taken to the Supreme Court of Justice, which ruled in favour of the villagers’ right to live in a healthy and pollution-free environment.

In 2020, we began protesting outside the Danish embassy, because one of the main shareholders of the company is the Danish Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU). We also went to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and the National Congress to protest and state our case. Our complaint resulted in countless meetings with staff from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Environment and other relevant national authorities and institutions. However, none of these meetings led to any action or sanctions against Coexca for the pollution it causes.

That same year we held demonstrations at the offices of the local monitoring institutions, and we even took to the streets of San Javier, organising marches with the community. We also organised various actions during the city’s anniversary celebrations, to denounce the damage the company was causing and its impact on us.

In 2021, the filmmaker Ricardo Jara released the documentary Mal Vecino (Bad Neighbor), which reveals the damage Coexca is causing to the population. However, the final part of the documentary implies that the fight is over. This is not the case, as we continue to suffer the consequences of the farm’s operation on our land.

We are currently organising less direct, less public actions then in previous years, due to fear of reprisals. We are choosing to remain under the radar because there are certain people and community leaders who work for the company and, in some cases, have openly identified those of us in the community who oppose Coexca’s operations. They are also constantly working to shore up support among our neighbours in order to clean up their image and continue operating with impunity, despite all their harmful actions that affect our lives on a daily basis.

MSPV: We are mainly affected by environmental pollution, which is impacting people’s health. One of the main problems is that we are being poisoned by the excessive use of insecticides that the Coexca company uses to eliminate flies and other insects in its industrial breeding facilities.

Another problem is water grabbing and pollution. This has resulted in a severe water shortage being declared for the community, which seriously affects the water supply for both people and crops. Wildlife and domestic animals have also been impacted by new diseases and infestations since the factory farm was built.

Recently, in 2024, we noticed the effects of insecticides, specifically pyrethroids. Insects such as cicadas, which used to make noise at night, can no longer be heard. Although there are still bees, they are brought in by transhumant beekeepers, and there are no more wild hives to be found.

The bird population has also declined significantly. In addition, those working in the agricultural industry have seen animals such as dogs and rabbits poisoned. This poisoning is the result of pesticides and insecticides such as pyrethroids and organophosphates used by Coexca on its industrial pig farms. These include Demon EC (Zeneca), Aquapest (BTS) Maxifort (BTS), Agita (Elanco) and Diazinon (ANASAC), among others. All these insecticides and pesticides are toxic to humans and animals, as well as the natural environment (there are two large tributaries in the area, the Purapel River and the Perquilauquen River, as well as the only rainfed wetland in Chile, Ciénagas del Name, which is home to unique flora and over 100 species of migratory birds that come every year and have been clearly affected by these practices).

These factors have resulted in financial and environmental losses for farmers. What’s more, the community’s food sovereignty is being compromised, as we are producing less and less food.

Another problem is that, despite all the pollution, the value of the land has not been affected, due to the presence of agribusiness in the region, which leads to land speculation.

Yet another effect is the disunity of the community, as some of the people and local authorities of San Javier now work for the company and therefore support Coexca, while most of us oppose it. For example, Coexca appointed as its head of corporate affairs the former director of the Maule Agricultural and Livestock Service, a key political figure who – a year before being hired by the company – approved the project that allowed Coexca to established itself in the region.

MSPV: The company is mainly owned by Chilean and Danish capital. As far as Chilean capital is concerned, the shareholders are linked to the families that traditionally control the country’s economy. As for the Danish capital, it comes from a private equity fund managed by Denmark’s development bank, the Investment Fund for Developing Countries or IFU. The IFU directly manages the Danish Agribusiness Fund I K/S, in which the two major Danish pension funds, as well as the government, are involved. In other words, we are up against powerful national and international groups, who have led society to believe that the fight is over.

Another European company that holds shares in Coexca is Terra Protein from the Netherlands. This company was founded by European investors involved in setting up similar projects that have had an impact on other parts of the world. For example, the partner and president of Terra Protein is “one of the key founders of Aviagen”.

The irony is that the pension funds of retirees from Denmark are affecting the investments of retirees from Chile, who live on the land surrounding Coexca’s factory farm.

When we found out that the main shareholder was from Denmark, we tried to approach the Danish embassy to denounce Coexca and show evidence of its pollution. Unfortunately, the embassy chose to support Coexca and refused to meet with the community.

MSPV: We are asking for this company and these production processes to leave our land, and also not to set up operations anywhere else.

We are not looking for mitigation or compensation. We do not want this investment to have another location, as it will continue to have the same impact due to its production model.

We also need the state to create laws that impose sanctions on these types of company and to acknowledge that, by allowing the Coexca farm to be built, it acted unjustly towards the people and their land, impacting our environment, economy, health and food sovereignty.

The state should promote peasant farming as an alternative to factory farming in order to support food sovereignty, which is diminishing in Chile due to the pressure of agribusiness and its impact on our land.

MSPV: We would like people and organisations to try informing themselves and reach out to the community. The community has called for solidarity and we will continue to do so, to strengthen solidarity networks.

We haven’t organised any formal discussion groups, but we have published everything that happens on our social networks, and we would like other organisations and people to help spread the word.

We call on all foundations and social and academic institutions to reach out and engage with the people of San Javier, to help us grow stronger and spread the word about our struggle, which is most certainly not over.