|
Tuesday, 23 November 2010 18:40 |
Fairly Traded Coffee Price Increases
As of October 11, Equal Exchange increased prices on all coffee products.
All bags are now marked $7.50 for a 12-ounce package.
I continue to keep the coffee products distributed at church low--lower than you would find in most retail settings for a comparable product that is certified organic (or in some cases when not certified organic, still grown with sustainable farming methods), high quality, and fairly traded. Since you are a valued part of the Equal Exchange community, I want to share with you the reasons behind the increase.
- Rising Costs for Farmers - Farmers' expenses have been rising steadily for both agricultural supplies and the cost of labor. This is happening for all of our farmer partners in countries around the world.
- Climate Change and Extreme Weather- Climate change, due to global warming, is disrupting the once-predictable conditions and patterns of coffee farming. Whether it's excessive rain or debilitating drought, there is less coffee available for farmers to sell. This is particularly true for responsibly grown, organic coffee beans, of which fewer exist in general.
- Co-ops under pressure - When coffee brings in higher prices, middlemen take advantage of the situation, offering up-front cash for beans. This leads to individual farmers leaving the co-op system and making private (often one-time) deals. Co-ops, which support their members during the bad and good years, often pay members a better price--but it is over the course of a year--after the harvest. Equal Exchange is proud to loan millions of dollars of pre-harvest financing to co-ops to help mitigate this dynamic. But due to the loss of crops from these individual deals there are fewer organic beans to sell and a weakening of the co-op system.
All of these factors--on top of the upward price pressure triggered by ongoing speculation in coffee and many other commodities--have led to increased competition for fair trade and organic beans. For a number of years Equal Exchange has been paying farmers well above the commodity price and even above our guaranteed minimum price. But the current factors have converged to create a crisis, making it harder and more expensive to secure high quality, organic, fairly traded coffee beans.
Thank you for your ongoing purchases of Equal Exchange fair trade products. I appreciate your understanding of the changing factors involved in trade. Equal Exchange continues to need your help in building fair trade in your communities and places of worship. Over the next months I'll keep you updated on all of the above issues as I receive more information from Equal Exchange.
Joel Weidner
UMC's Fair Trade Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate Coordinator |
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 08 January 2011 09:49 |
|
|
Monday, 25 May 2009 04:52 |
Fairly Traded Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate
 Our church supports fair trade for small farmer co-ops by serving fairly traded coffee and tea products, purchased through Equal Exchange, during fellowship time and by encouraging members to use fair trade products at home.
You can pick up fair trade products from the display stand in the fellowship hall. All product prices are marked and you can pay by writing a check payable to University Mennonite Church. Put your payment in the Weidners' church mailbox. Joel Weidner orders products about every month and half and takes custom orders by sending an email to the church email distribution list.
You can contact Joel at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
Monday, 25 May 2009 04:58 |
Greening the Planet
Equal Exchange coffee and tea not only tastes good, but it's good for the environment!
- Over 90 percent of the fairly traded products offered by Equal Exchange are certified organic, meaning that no toxic chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticides are used that pollute the air or harm the earth. Farmers and their families steer clear of physical contact with these chemicals.
- Equal Exchange supports small-scale farmer practices such as terracing, water conservations, manual weeding, and crop diversification--all of which lead to greater soil fertility and reduce erosion.
- Farmers in fair trade cooperatives are encouraged to plant additional coffee trees and citrus plants to assist and increase biodiversity and wildlife habitats. These practices also improve pest control, help to avoid soil erosion, and provide other food sources to the community.
- Co-op farmers plant shade trees as opposed to clear cutting trees in conventional mono-crop plantations. This helps to preserve songbird habitat, shield farmers from harmful UV rays, cool the planet, and absorb carbon dioxide, a harmful greenhouse gas. All of these techniques help remedy the extensive landscape degradation and deforestation that has occurred in countries over decades of environmental abuse. Thanks to your support, small farmers have the means to help restore these landscapes as a result of the market access and improved income from the fair trade system.
|
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 29 August 2009 12:39 |
|
|
Monday, 25 May 2009 04:57 |
Fair Trade and the Environment
The Interfaith Program at Equal Exchange, in partnership with ten different faith groups, maintains a strong commitment to furthering fair trade and environmental justice together with congregations across the U.S. As a participant in the Interfaith Program, we are making a positive impact on the planet and the people who grow our food through regular purchases of Equal Exchange fairly traded products.
We invite you, your family, and friends to share this vision of protecting the environment--a vision that connects us to the planet and to the small farmer cooperatives who produce food in a sustainable way. |
|
Last Updated on Saturday, 04 September 2010 08:49 |
|
|
|
|
|
Fair Trade Coffee
