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Re:Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t by wf on Thursday July 11, 2013 @05:58PM (#6029534)
This is debatable.[1] After hearing about this through NPR I initially thought that it was terrible; however, after doing more reading it seems to be unclear what kind of effect this is actually having on their economy.[2]

[1] http://marcfbellemare.com/wordpress/2013/01/quinoa-nonsense-...

[2] http://ain-bolivia.org/2011/05/bolivian-quinoa-questions-pro...

Re:Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t by btown on Thursday July 11, 2013 @06:38PM (#6029748)
Most would argue that "effect on their economy" is a means to an end, and that "effect on the well-being of people" is the end itself. In that case, economic analysis can fall short. Friends of mine have personally spoken to rural Andean farmers who can verify that the price rises in quinoa can cause more problems than they solve.
Re:Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t by bayesianhorse on Thursday July 11, 2013 @06:47PM (#6029792)
How does that work? Food security should increase rather than decrease. Subsistence farming is a living that can be extremely hard to the point of starvation when anything goes wrong.

Sometimes a "more problems" verdict neglects the idea of different qualities of problems. More money usually comes with a higher quantity of problems, for example...

Re:Quinoa should be taking over the world. This is why it isn’t by zecho on Thursday July 11, 2013 @10:48PM (#6030628)
Mo' money, mo' quantity of problems.