Ar Arvidjin Delgerekh Cooperative

Mongolia

The 210 members of the Ar Arvidjin Delgerekh cooperative in Mongolia are yak herders. The yak wool they produce is spun into yarn and knit into clothing, and sold under the Baby Yak label.  The cooperative members also run traditional homestays and cultural tourism activities. Working together helps the herders to better protect their local ecosystem against overgrazing, improve animal health and welfare, and maintain a traditional nomadic lifestyle on the land. As Mongolia’s first democratically run agricultural cooperative, it provides an alternative to both the state-run, Soviet-influenced model that dominated the country through the 1990s, and the capitalist, export-oriented economy that followed. See the cooperative’s website and this Yes Magazine article for more information.