Posts Tagged ‘Chocolate’

The Fair Trade Chocolate Future

Thursday, February 25th, 2010

In preparation for the Fair Trade Futures conference in September, CRS Fair Trade is putting on our thinking caps and wrestling with some challenges facing the Fair Trade movement. For the next few months, we’ll post our thoughts on these challenges and we welcome yours.

If you haven’t noticed yet, we’re focusing on chocolate this month. Whether you gave chocolate as a Valentine’s gift or you gave it up for Lent, chocolate is on a lot of people’s minds this February. When we talk about chocolate, we usually are talking about our chocolate partners, SERRV, who sells Divine Chocolate, and Equal Exchange. Both of these companies are fully-committed to Fair Trade. From our relationship with them we know which cooperatives they source their cocoa from and the relationship they have with their farmer partners and their customers in the U.S.  We’re confident about their operations and we’re confident promoting them.

When you get beyond the CRS Fair Trade world, however, things aren’t always so clear. The overall demand for Fair Trade chocolate is on the rise and that is a good thing.  However, the price of cocoa has rallied and is well-over the Fair Trade guaranteed minimum. For instance, the Fair Trade minimum price for cocoa is $1600/ton + $100 social premium. The current cocoa price has consistently been over $3000/ton. Fair Trade growers are receiving the market price + the $100/ton social premium, so it’s a good time for them.

Photo credit: David Snyder for CRS.

For chocolate makers, companies and consumers, it’s another story. The increasing price of cocoa and cocoa related products like cocoa butter has meant the profit margin for chocolate has dropped across the board. Chocolate companies have had to look for cheaper substitutes for their ingredients, increase chocolate prices and in some cases, decreased the size of their bars. For Fair Trade chocolate companies, many of their ingredients are also Fair Trade and cannot be substituted, nor do they have large profit margins from other products, like Kraft or Nestle may, to help control costs. This means Fair Trade chocolate prices will rise at the same time many Americans are cutting out luxury spending.

With no end of the cocoa rally in sight, it also means there’s little price difference between Fair Trade certified and non-Fair Trade cocoa. While there’s certainly an ethical motivation for mainstream companies to switch to Fair Trade, with the recent price parallels, we have seen a few taking advantage of this opportunity. For instance, last year Cadbury’s in the UK declared they would use Fair Trade cocoa  in their big seller, the Dairy Milk bar, in 5 of their markets. This February, Kraft acquired control of Cadbury’s and has indicated they will keep Cadbury’s Fair Trade commitment for the Dairy Milk bar.  Late last year, Nestle’s also declared their Kit Kat bar in the UK would convert to Fair Trade chocolate.  While much of this is happening in the UK, we shouldn’t be surprised when it trickles over to the U.S.

Photo credit: David Snyder for CRS.

So what will happen when it does? As the Fair Trade chocolate market grows, without a doubt, more cocoa growers will benefit from a Fair Trade price and the social premium. While this is a very good thing, there is some skepticism as to whether or not corporations will offer the same transparency regarding their relationships with cooperatives as Equal Exchange, SERRV and Divine Chocolate do. While CRS Fair Trade would be happy to see more farmers benefiting from Fair Trade terms, we will not partner with a chocolate company that doesn’t purchase all of its cocoa under Fair Trade terms.  We have to ask: What terms is the rest of the cocoa purchased under?

These things are important to us because we want to support “the gold standard” of business, businesses we feel model the principles of Catholic social teaching.  We wonder how will our fully-committed partners fare when they are faced with a Fair Trade Kit Kat bar? Do the differences in models and impacts on companies make a difference to you?  What should the role of CRS Fair Trade be in the Fair Trade chocolate future?

Let us know what your perspectives are.

It’s Lent…So Why Think About Chocolate?

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

We certainly don’t want to be the source of any additional temptation during Lent, however we did want to make sure everyone was taking advantage of Equal Exchange’s chocolate sale that only runs through February. For those of you that like to plan ahead, purchase your Equal Exchange chocolate at a discount and be ready for stuffing Easter baskets, spring chocolate sales or just stock up and avoid the summer shipping charges that hit when the weather gets warmer.

To see the sale, visit the Equal Exchange Interfaith Program online store.

Photo courtesy of Equal Exchange.

Back to School with Fair Trade!

Wednesday, September 9th, 2009

It is back to school time.  Lessons to study, clubs to join, and sports to play.  While he was probably talking about adults, Pope Benedict has noted that, “Consumers should be continually educated” about their social responsibility when making purchases.   Here at CRS Fair Trade we think that young people are some of the best students of Fair Trade.  The youth we work with easily connect with the “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” logic of work and trade,  especially as they take on more responsibilities with family chores, part-time jobs, and career planning.  They enjoy learning about the farmers responsible for treats like Fair Trade chocolate, and artisans who create the latest cool jewelry and fashion accessories.

With the school season upon us, CRS Fair Trade offers some ideas for learning more about Fair Trade:

  • View a video and download a reflection guide about the coffee farmers of La Fem in Nicaragua.  You’ll hear directly from two cooperative leaders about why Fair Trade is important to them and their families.  These materials are made possible thanks to a partnership between CRS and RENEW International.
  • Send student off in style and solidarity with a uniform from Fair Trade Uniforms.  Over the years, students have led the way in confronting sweatshop abuses.  CRS Fair Trade is proud to recommend this  clothing project of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd.
  • Raise Money Right because youth fund-raising is about more than just dollars.  With Divine and Equal Exchange Fair Trade chocolate you can earn dollars for your local causes and support  farmers globally.

Whether as consumers here in the States or as members of producer families, children are often the beneficiaries of Fair Trade.   Help your students experience the fun and justice of Fair Trade this school year.

Children of cocoa farmers attend summer camp.  Photo by Jackie DeCarlo/CRS

Children of cocoa farmers attend summer camp. Photo by Jackie DeCarlo/CRS

Planning for Fair Trade Month

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Summer isn’t even over, but it is time to prepare for a fun fall experience: October is national Fair Trade month!

The Catholics Confront Global Poverty initiative helped shape good ideas for celebration through a national webcast on August 25, 2009.   CRS Fair Trade, along with Jill Rauh of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, grounded the discussion in the call of Catholic social teaching to promoting economic justice.  We then explored what Fair Trade means and the opportunities CRS Fair Trade offers for converting your parish to Fair Trade coffee, Raising Money Right through chocolate, or hosting a community Work of Human Hands crafts sale.

October is a great month to implement or launch Fair Trade activities, so be sure and check out the webcast for organizing ideas.  Also check out our free resources for your community.

CCGP

Obama's Visit to the Vatican and Ghana

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Fans of the Raise Money Right project are probably more familiar than most with the people of Ghana.  Since 2005 CRS Fair Trade has been sharing the story of Divine chocolate, a company owned in part by cocoa farmers.   Just like President Obama is doing this week, I have had the honor of visiting the West Africa nation to learn about economic progress and the success of democracy.   A couple of years back, a CRS delegation even visited a stop on President Obama’s itinerary: a castle that served as transit point for slaves headed to the Americas.

Photo by CRS

Photo by CRS

This group of students and adults–who had used Fair Trade chocolate as a fun, tasty tool for awareness and education back home–were humbled and chastened by the grim tour of a place where human beings had been treated as property, forced in squalid cells while waiting for transport to a life of enslavement.   Even two years after the trip, I recall the empty and shameful feelings that the brief time of glimpsing slave trade relics stirred in me.

I wonder what President Obama’s reactions—both personal and political—will be to his time in Ghana, and I am curious about the response of his hosts.  Apparently the arrival of our first African-American president is being much anticipated by the people of Ghana, who are rolling out quite a welcome mat of festivities.  I also suspect Pope Benedict, who is meeting with Obama before the trip to Africa, is looking forward to their conversation just days after his encyclical on charity and truth has been published.

While I am no expert on diplomatic or theological discussions, based on my time in Ghana and my experience with Fair Trade, I suggest a few passages from Chapter Two of the encyclical to get the conversation between Pope Benedict XVI and President Obama started:

•    In anticipation of Obama’s time in a former British colony: “Paul VI hoped to see the journey towards autonomy [and decolonization] unfold freely and in peace. More than forty years later, we must acknowledge how difficult this journey has been, both because of new forms of colonialism and continued dependence on old and new foreign powers, and because of grave irresponsibility within the very countries that have achieved independence.”
•    Regarding strategies to confront the global economic crisis:  “It is important to distinguish between short- and long-term economic or sociological considerations. Lowering the level of protection accorded to the rights of workers, or abandoning mechanisms of wealth redistribution in order to increase the country’s international competitiveness, hinder the achievement of lasting development. Moreover, the human consequences of current tendencies towards a short-term economy — sometimes very short-term — need to be carefully evaluated. This requires further and deeper reflection on the meaning of the economy and its goals, as well as a profound and far-sighted revision of the current model of development, so as to correct its dysfunctions and deviations.”
•    Learning lessons of development: “The right to food, like the right to water, has an important place within the pursuit of other rights, beginning with the fundamental right to life. It is therefore necessary to cultivate a public conscience that considers food and access to water as universal rights of all human beings, without distinction or discrimination.  It is important, moreover, to emphasize that solidarity with poor countries in the process of development can point towards a solution of the current global crisis, as politicians and directors of international institutions have begun to sense in recent times. Through support for economically poor countries by means of financial plans inspired by solidarity ….not only can true economic growth be generated, but a contribution can be made towards sustaining the productive capacities of rich countries that risk being compromised by the crisis.”

Let the Fair Trade Counting and Celebrating Begin!

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009

Our first World Fair Trade Day dispatch from Jeanine Boucher-Colbert, Youth Programs Officer in Catholic Relief Services-West:

Nearly 2,000 Catholic women and a few brave men gathered for the fourth NW Catholic Women’s Convocation in Bellevue, WA on May 1-2, 2009. On Friday night a group of women volunteers and CRS staff* organized a World Fair Trade Day chocolate tasting for all the participants, thanks to a donation from Equal Exchange, our new chocolate partner. An announcement was made about the CRS Fair Trade Fund support of World Fair Trade Day as the participants enjoyed the chocolate and read about CRS Fair Trade with information cards we provided. Great solidarity moment and effort to help regain the title of World’s Largest Fair Trade Break!

If you want to participate in the World’s Largest Fair Trade Break, be sure and check out the organizing materials of FTRN.

* Far left is CRS Zambia staff Carol Mumba, former CRS volunteeer Margaret Johnson and CRS West staff Jeanine Boucher-Colbert; Far right is Called To Witness alum Ann Labeck. Also in the group: Margie Ames, Archbishop Murphy High School and CRS Cyberbridges teacher, and many Just Faith graduates, friends and parishioners of St, Andrew parish, Portland, Oregon. Photo thanks to Maggie Maggio!

Your Fair Trader has arrived, in Spanish too!

Wednesday, April 8th, 2009

Last week we e-mailed our Fair Trader newsletter that comes out every two months. If you didn’t receive it, please subscribe! This month we featured a variety of stories about CRS Fair Trade:

* Breaking the Record: The World’s Biggest Coffee Break
* Raising Money Right with Fair Trade Chocolate
* Fair Trade = Good News
* Catholics Confront Global Poverty
*The 3rd annual Global Solidarity Conference

We also included news blasts about the wider movement. One of the newsletter stories, about Fair Trade Ambassador Valerie Lizarraga, is also available in Spanish by visiting crsespanol.org

Proud of the Company We Keep

Monday, April 6th, 2009

In recent weeks, CRS Fair Trade partners have received a lot of attention. Katy told you about our coffee partner, Pura Vida, being featured on the PBS News Hour. The next weekend at the Fair Trade Federation conference, our craft and chocolate partner, SERRV, received the “Outstanding Service to the Fair Trade Community” award. Equal Exchange’s Interfaith program, our coffee and chocolate partner, was named “Best Public Education Program.” This was the latest in a string of well-deserved awards for Equal.

While CRS Fair Traders are mostly a modest group, it is nice to see our partners getting some recognition! We know of their commitment to producers and their efforts to make trade fairer and more sustainable. We are glad the wider world is noticing too!

Kathy Harley accepts SERRV's award

Kathy Harley accepts SERRV's award

'Egg On' a Politician with Divine Chocolate

Monday, March 30th, 2009
Join Divine Chocolate and ‘egg on’ a politician to keep fair trade for Africa on the agenda at the upcoming G20 summit in London on April 2nd.  Play their online game at www.eggapolitician.com.

As part of the fun, players are invited to throw a chocolate egg to one of the five leaders attending the G20 summit  – Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, Manmohan Singh or Wen Jiabao. The chocolate eggs are eaten with relish and each toss is registered as a vote of encouragement to the selected leaders. Players also can send an email to the G20 summit reminding members not to let trade slip off the agenda, and keep up the momentum to ensure fairer trade opportunities for Africa.

Over the last 10 years Divine has given consumers the opportunity to make trade work for cocoa farmers in West Africa while enjoying delicious chocolate.  This game offers another opportunity to have a voice on fair trade and to have fun too.
Go to www.eggapolitician.com now and when you are done be sure to tell a friend.

Celebrating Fair Trade Success at Home and Worldwide

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

When you turn on the radio and hear about nation-wide job loss, perhaps even in your own family, or when you read about long-standing struggles with diseases like TB, you may feel discouraged and uncertain.  Fair Trade gives us some good news to share, along with proven ways to build an economy for everyone.

This year Portland, Oregon plays host to the annual Fair Trade Federation conference and birthday celebration.  FTF has been around for 15 years now, an association of organizations fully committed to business models that promote principles such as dialogue, transparency, and respect.  The FTF just released their latest Trends Report—thanks in part to a donation from the CRS Fair Trade Fund—and much of the news is good!

•    Seventy-six percent of production by FTF partners comes from female producers, as Fair Trade continues to be a mechanism for women’s empowerment.
•    Sales for FTF members grew from $499,893 in 2006  to $517, 385 in 2007.   A report from FINE (a global consortium) shows that global Fair Trade sales in 2007 reached $2.5 billion!
•    Almost 14 percent of FTF members have been in business for more than 20 years, demonstrating some impressive staying power.  At the same time, almost half of FTF members were established in the past six years, indicating growth in Fair Trade shopping opportunities.

Here at CRS Fair Trade, we have been experiencing more and more commitment to Fair Trade by the US Catholic community.  In 2008:

•    There were more than 1,000 Work of Human Hands events.
•    U.S. Catholics drank more than ½ million dollars worth of Fair Trade coffee.
•    About 600 communities were able to Raise Money Right enjoying Fair Trade chocolate and learning about Catholic Social Teaching.

All this is possible because in good times and bad, you participate in CRS Fair Trade. Each sale helps build income and community stability overseas AND connects you to a global community working to recover and thrive!