Welcome to our Resource Center
Where you can dive deeper on all things Equal Exchange and beyond.
Where you can dive deeper on all things Equal Exchange and beyond.
Featured Articles
Since Equal Exchange’s founding 40 years ago, the mainstream food system around us has repeatedly pursued profit-prioritizing and power-concentrating goals. Collectively, we need to show up, do our economic job, do our democracy job, have community, have fun, and disrupt this mainstream system that single-mindedly and effectively extracts.
“When I joined EE, I saw a cohort of people who were very experienced and active in the co-op. I thought to myself, “That’s so cool. In 20 years, I want to be that.” It is a personal gift from any worker-owner to the co-op when they believe, “I’m more committed to being a 20-year co-op owner than to want a certain career.” For me, it’s now more about being here at this co-op than whatever role I may be holding at a given moment.”
Much like a mother fungus catalyzes a waterfall of positive effects for the soil beneath banana plants, when we patronize Rio y Valle and Equal Exchange, we feed resources into organizations who are methodically and creatively bolstering people power.
Through a gender plan and trainings, Rio y Valle created an expectation that women should participate in the project’s peer exchanges and be elected to co-op committees. Without intentionally welcoming girls and women, they rarely would be able to participate in these opportunities.
With buyers who see and value the unique contributions of smallholders, bananas serve as a means to a steady business that simultaneously stabilizes and revives community.
A new initiative from Manduvirá cooperative in Paraguay is reimagining sustainable pest management through technology, education, and a community-informed implementation strategy.