This film from Peru depicts the life of a small peasant community high in the Andes mountains which depends on the marketing of alpaca fleece for its survival.

ALPACA BREEDERS OF CHIMBOYA traces the cycle of the Chimboyan economy, from raising and shearing the alpacas, to markets, to textile production, and finally export. The film looks at the structure of the Indian peasant communities which the alpacas industry supports - buyers for the large textile companies provide credit between marketing seasons, exporters ship 85% of the Peruvian alpaca each year, but when the cash runs low peasants of different towns must barter among themselves in order to survive.

"By undertaking an integrated and multifaceted treatment of the wool trade, it becomes a valuable stimulus for discussion of peasant responses to economic domination, as well as the nature of underdevelopment in Latin America." - Joanne Rappaport, American Anthropologist