Happy Fair Trade Day from 6th Ave!

(Above: Board members of a co-op in Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia review the Just Coffee packaging that contains their coffee. Jeff took this picture on a 2010 trip as the Just Coffee Co-op's fair trade inspector.)

A note from Jeff Bessmer, 6th Ave Tacoma Store Manager.

Did you know that every time you see Fair Trade Certified coffee, it’s from a co-op owned by coffee growers?  May 14 is World Fair Trade Day, and an excellent time to acknowledge the essential role of fair trade in your co-op, as well as the vital roles of co-ops in fair trade.

Fair trade is a proven successful system that improves the standards of living for our fellow cooperators and growers around the world.  In both of our stores you’ll see fair trade coffee, chocolate, sugar, tea, beauty products, bulk nuts and dried fruit, some produce, and new fair trade co-op produced wine!

Fair Trade at the Co-op

Here in Tacoma, we just devoted an entire endcap to Equal Exchange coffee between Aisle 3 and 4. For decades, this worker-owned co-op has been on the forefront of effective fair trade by importing and giving assistance to growers of fair trade products such as chocolate, tea, almonds, mangoes, and avocadoes. 

That’s just the start of the array of fair trade, cooperatively produced products you’ll find on our shelves. Don’t miss:

• Coffee from Just Coffee Cooperative
• Beauty prodocts from Alaffia
• Wine from La Riojana
• Chocolate from Theo, Alter Eco, and Endangered Species
• Sweeteners from Wholesome!
• Spices from Frontier Co-op
• Even the chocolate and coffee in Larabars are fair trade!

The Fair Trade Premium

Fair trade is a system by which a grower or producer is paid a higher price as well as a ‘fair trade premium’ on top of that price, which is set aside for improving the grower or producer’s community.  The important development difference in fair trade is that the improvement money is locally controlled-the community decides how the money is used to its own benefit. 

Cooperatives like Gumutindo in Uganda and Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union in Ethiopia have built water pumps, schools, and production facilities with fair trade premiums.

Happy World Fair Trade Day!

 

About World Fair Trade Day - May 14, 2016

The World Fair Trade Day, started since 2001 by World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) members, is an initiative of WFTO that falls on the second Saturday of May of each year. It is an inclusive worldwide festival of events celebrating Fair Trade as a tangible contribution to the fight against poverty and exploitation, climate change and the economic crises that has the greatest impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations. Trade must benefit the most vulnerable and deliver sustainable livelihoods by developing opportunities for small and disadvantaged producers. Millions of producers and traders, businesses and policy-makers, supporting organizations and volunteers have contributed to the substantial growth of Fair Trade globally. 

 

Date: Monday May 09, 2016

Category: In The Co-op

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