After centuries of colonization and decades of scientific marginalization, an indigenous organization leads the global dialog on research of quinoa and other Andean grains, currrently considered superfoods and an answer to global food insecurity. By Alan Adams with Nicolás Pichazaca In June 2025, the world’s leading researchers, scientists, and producers of quinoa and other Andean […]

Indigenous Kañaris place the child at the center of the Andean world

Lino Pichasaca and I walked the rough footpaths, the chakiñanes in Kichwa, around the Hacienda Guantug in the province of Cañar, Ecuador. It was 1967, and the Ecuadorian agrarian reform was getting started. Leaders like Lino saw great possibilities and huge obstacles.

“Superheroes don’t wear capes. They wear ponchos and sombreros.” The Andean phrase is being invoked once again in Ecuador.