Assentamento de Itapeva

Early this week I awoke before dawn and traveled some 350 kilometers south to Itapeva, a city near the southern border of the state of Sao Paolo. Mario, three other MST members and myself packed into a small VW and drove the 4 hours to the MST acampamento of Itapeva.
Mario and the others work for state sector MST in the state of Sao Paolo, were travelling to the assentmaneto to plan a state-wide Olympic competition that will host MST communities from all over the state of Sao Paolo.
It was great to finally get out of the greater Sao Paolo area and see a bit of the countryside. The landscape between Sao Paolo is mostly rolling hills dominated by monoculture fazendas of corn, soy, and beans, and occasional stretches of temperate forests, where little family farms and concrete huts can be seen carved out of the lush green forests.
The assentamento of Itapeva is one of the oldest in Sao Paolo. After the first National Congress of the MST in 1984, Itapeva became the first assentamento in the state of Sao Paolo to come about under the official national MST organization. It is very much model for MST communities throughout the region. The assentamento is home to over 300 families, who each have a large portion of family land to cultivate for family consumption and market purposes. The assentamento also has a very successful farm co-op, composed of around 215 families, who collectively manage a large scale farming operation of mostly beans and corn. Since the co-op cultivates large areas of land for only a few crops, it uses chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which are normally criticized within the movement. One of the community leaders explained to me that while the smaller family farms use organic methods, the co-op must use chemical fertilizers to produce a product that is competitive with market prices in the nearby city of Itapeva.
--There is a small market for certified organic products in Brazil, however they are much more expensive. The Walmart is Sao Paolo, like more and more in the US, has a section of organic produce and products, however only a small portion of Brazilians can afford these products.
The assentamento of Itapeva also has a MST school for political and ideological formation as well as technical skills--a sort of regional verison of the Escola Nacional Florestal outside of Sao Paolo. The assentamento doesn´t have its own primary or secondary school, however a bus comes daily to the assentamento to transport the children to the local municipal school. The proximity of MST assentemntos to nearby cities has become a central factor in MST actions across the nation, as access to schools, roads, healthcare, and markets are essential to the survival of a community. While the assentamentos petition the government to extend the infraestructure of schools, healthcare centers, and roads to the community, most often the families must leave their communities to gain access to these public services.