Fair Trade Near and Far

Fair Trade. The more I look, the more I find.

I was absolutely thrilled to see fair trade coffee in a local Acme supermarket while visiting a pretty out-of-the way part of New Jersey. It was the store's organic brand, and I made sure I bought myself a bag of the nice roast to share with friends and family. I want to make sure these products continue to stay on the shelves and more and more people are aware of just how far their extra dollar or two for these items goes in supporting the farmers and workers I met in Nicaragua and others like them around the world.

And that extends into my own community as well; I want to make sure my dollars support people working hard to make a living in locally, to small businesses, vendors and independent shops. Suddenly I am inspired to buy flowers from the street vendor more often, suddenly the beauty of the bouquet is more stunning than ever, suddenly I can't image a more beautiful bouquet.

And for more about the amazing experiences we had in Nicaragua, here is an excellent piece written by team member Dana:

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/news/x84983996/Fair-Trade-has-major-effect-on-coffee-growing-communities

Equal Exchange Article

Here is a wonderfully descriptive, beautiful article from one of the team leaders, Susan Sklar of Equal Exchange, about our mission:

http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2010/02/22/delegation-to-nicaragua-january-2010/#more-2874

In the morning light we saw the entire menagerie: a small herd of cows and calves, horses, geese, a pig, dogs, fruit trees, a flower garden, as well as wet mill and coffee drying racks. Luis and Elsa’s farm was the picture of success. We realized that the fact that there were many animals, diversification of crops, and growth was partly due to the Fair Trade premiums distributed by the larger Tierra Nueva Co-op. Fair Trade brought the Castillos, like the other co-op members, access to the U.S. and European organic coffee markets.