Posted on May 17th, 2007 by webmaster
Because I work everyday on coffee, and because I am personally obsessed with finding out-of-this-world coffees for myself, I am generally known around CRS as “the coffee guy.” (The Baltimore Sun actually referred to me in an article a few years ago as the “CRS coffee czar.”) This means that every time coffee or Fair Trade is referenced in the news, I get clippings and copies and links from dozens of people accompanied by notes like, “Have you seen this?” or “I saw this and thought of you.” This is very thoughtful, of course, and helpful, since I don’t always catch everything printed, spoken or broadcast about Fair Trade and coffee. Occasionally, someone brings me something totally unique, like last
Posted on May 16th, 2007 by webmaster
Tune in to Provoke Radio radio this week to hear a brilliant discussion of Fair Trade featuring our own Jackie DeCarlo (CRS Fair Trade program advisor and recently published author), and Chris Treter (co-founder of CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program partner Higher Grounds in Lake Leelanau, MI). The episode is the third in the show’s series on Socially Responsible Business, and does not disappoint! Online Listen online anytime or podcast it at Provoke Radio! About this Episode. Many of you already know Jackie from her work with CRS and FTRN (the Fair Trade Resource Network) before that. She is endlessly knowledgeable about Fair Trade (did I mention she wrote the book on Fair Trade?) and deeply passionate about her work — two
Posted on May 14th, 2007 by webmaster
A number of people have written or called in recent days asking about a topic of perennial concern and interest: the price that farmers earn for their Fair Trade coffee. We did update folks in The Coffee Issue of our e-newsletter a few months ago, but apparently not everyone subscribes. So…here is the WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHY and WHAT ELSE of Fair Trade coffee prices! WHO sets the price?The Fair Trade Labelling Organizations (FLO), International, is an umbrella organization that sets the standards for all Fair Trade Certified products. WHAT is the price of coffee?In the coffee sector, FLO standards guarantee that buyers of Fair Trade Certified coffee pay small-scale farmer cooperatives a minimum price for their coffee ($1.21 per
Posted on May 9th, 2007 by webmaster
I am writing this on the plane ride home from Long Beach, where I just participated in the 19th Specialty Coffee Association of America conference – my fourth since I took over the CRS Coffee Program in 2004. As I think about this year’s conference and compare it with the three previous ones, it occurs to me that Fair Trade has come a long way even during the short time I have been part of the movement. In 2004, at the SCAA event in Atlanta, Fair Trade was still on the margins of the specialty coffee world – the Fair Trade discussions on the SCAA slate were well attended, but there were relatively few of them. In 2007, by contrast,
Posted on May 9th, 2007 by webmaster
Our friends from Nicaragua finished their first SCAA experience Monday, and Tuesday began a five-day speaking tour in the L.A. metro area. Yesterday afternoon after the exhibition closed, they reflected on the experience. “I never imagined I would come to something like this,” said CECOSEMAC’s marketing coordinator Immer Montoya. President Adrian Arauz, pictured here on the first day of the exhibit, called it “an incredible experience.” Tired from long days attending workshops, meeting with potential buyers, walking the exhibit floor and exchanging experiences with farmers from other cooperatives, Immer and Adrian felt simultaneously humbled and encouraged. “We saw how small we are in this industry,” said Immer. It’s true. CECOSEMAC consists of less than 250 farmers from a few communities
Posted on May 9th, 2007 by webmaster
Dean Cycon, founder of CRS Coffee Program partner Dean’s Beans, has been making headlines for years – for his ads in The Village Voice challenging major coffee corporations to increase their commitment to Fair Trade, for his decision to withhold Fair Trade licensing fees from TransFair USA and return them to the farmers who grow Dean’s Beans coffee, and most recently for his active engagement around Ethiopia’s coffee trademark campaign. Unfortunately, one of his most noble efforts has gone relatively unnoticed – his work on behalf of the Coffeelands Landmine Victims’ Trust. Coffee farmers in dozens of countries – including six of the world’s ten leading coffee producers – are affected by landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) that kill hundreds
Posted on May 3rd, 2007 by webmaster
Beginning next week, you can ask them questions — about coffee, organic farming, Fair Trade, life in Nicaragua, or anything else — during their Southern California speaking tour
Posted on April 27th, 2007 by webmaster
a USDA ruling threatens to dramatically reduce the availability of certified organic coffee by squeezing hundreds of thousands of small-scale coffee farmers out of the U.S. organic market
