The ABCs of Equal Exchange
A is for Avocados & Alternative Trade
From the small farmer cooperatives directly exporting their fruit to the alternative, independent retailers making them available to conscious eaters, we are building a real alternative to conventional produce. This approach—of working directly with democratically organized farmer groups—has over the years brought us into business with coffee farming co-ops, cacao co-ops, former tea plantations taken over by their workers, co-op grocery stores, and directly with our customers. Together, step-by-step, we have been able to find and prove alternatives to conventional corporate supply chains.
B is for Bees & Biodiversity
Part of our mission is to build “environmentally sound trade relationships” and that means working with farmers who use organic methods that help maintain biodiversity of plants, animals, fungus and native pollinators—like bees!—in the ecosystem. We see the relevance of these practices everywhere. In Peru, the production of organic specialty cacao like the pod pictured relies on natural (versus chemical) inputs to maintain the delicate balance of soil organisms. Across Latin American coffee farms beekeeping not only increases yields but often provides additional income for farmers who harvest the honey.
C is for Citizen-Consumers and Community
In addition to organizing and educating themselves about the inequities in the food system, Citizen-Consumers are using their spending power to support alternative traders and small farming communities. This concern for community—both locally and globally—is one of the core tenets of the co-operative model, known as Principle 7. Our Citizen-Consumer community is the crucial final link in our supply chains, the ones who make it possible for us to prove the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.
D is for the Democratic Food System
That’s the food system we’re building together with alternative supply chains that, against all odds, give farmer co-ops a fighting chance and a seat at the table. The co-ops we buy from, as well as our own worker co-op, are democratic organizations controlled by our members. Our customers are organizing democratically as well, as Citizen-Consumers with voting seats on our board. As our friend and scholar Phil Howard says, “An ideal food future gives voice to all the actors in the food system”—farmers, workers, eaters, everybody. We are not silent participants in the systems that sustain us.
E is for Espresso & Empowerment
Having a coffee cupper—someone who has been trained in the process of analyzing a coffee based on its sensory qualities—on staff at a farming co-op is important for the farmers and the co-operative to understand all aspects of coffee quality, from the way a coffee looks through to the way it roasts and tastes on the cupping table, even how it performs as espresso. This empowers the co-op to understand the value of their product and ultimately, to demand a good and fair price for their coffee. Rodolfo, Beth Ann, and Angelica are three such leaders at their respective co-ops (Norandino, Equal Exchange and ASPROCAFE Ingruma).
F is for Family Farms and Fair Trade
Bernabe Ruiz Gallegos and Mabel Guillen Balcazar are from the community of Cerro Bola, in Chiapas, Mexico, and are members of the Comon Yaj Noptic farming cooperative. We partner with small-scale farmers, often families, who organize themselves democratically into co-operatives. In this way, these farmers collectively own and control their own businesses. They focus on the quality of their crop, but also on building more robust and sustainable farming communities, because they own the land and raise their children on it.
G is for Grassroots Organizing
Since our first shipment of Cafe Nica in the 1980s, selling our products has been an exercise in rallying customers around an alternative type of commerce. Equal Exchange customers and supporters all over the country are taking grassroots actions to bring awareness to the injustices in our food system. By joining together we're both building alternative supply chains that work for all of us and we’re educating more people about why this work is necessary for the planet we share. Whether it’s with food dollars spent or community actions, these little efforts add up when we do them together.
H is for Hosting & Homestays
For decades, we’ve been bringing Equal Exchange staff and customers on delegations to visit our producer partners at their homes and in their communities. Producer co-op members have also traveled to visit our roastery and see where their products are sold. These exchanges offer a chance to share stories, a meal, and sometimes a few sunrises and sunsets. Danielle (pictured on the left), shared that, “while I was in the remote mountains of Chiapas, Mexico there was a moment where my host Emilio (on the right) put his hands out as though he was holding a cup of coffee and said: “Danielle, I want people to hold my coffee in their hand and I want them to feel where it came from and I want you to tell that story.” Moments like this, between Danielle and Emilio, are what stay with us long after a visit.
I is for Innovations & Investments
Beyond supporting farmer co-ops with our purchases, pre-harvest financing, and long term partnerships, we have long engaged in additional agricultural and quality improvement projects that invest in farmer-led innovation efforts. One approach CONACADO co-op in the Dominican Republic has implemented has been to graft improved varieties of fine and aromatic cacao that assure the quality of the product while at the same time providing a higher production volume than traditional fine varietals, which tend to be less disease-resistant. With this new effort, cooperatives have created gardens and nurseries for farmers to access improved varieties for their farms.
J is for Justice
Today's food system has given farmers little to no voice to advocate for their interests in a difficult market. At Equal Exchange, we do things differently. Our mission is to build alternative trade networks that put power back in the hands of farmers and eaters, like you. We're committed to:
trading with small farmer co-ops who run their businesses democratically and decide how to invest in their communities
supporting farmer-led innovative programs to address climate resilience, sustainable agriculture, gender equity, youth empowerment, and more
building a democratic food system that includes–and relies on–the voice and participation of all people in the supply chain: farmers, workers, and Citizen Consumers (you!) #ABCsofEqualExchange Pictured: Maria Rocio Motato Suárez, retired small farmer advocate, Coordinator of Organic Coffee, and farmer member of ASPROCAFE Ingruma, Caldas, Colombia.
K is for Knowing What’s in Your Cup
Our coffee, grown by small farmers and roasted at our worker-owned roastery, supports economic resiliency and a shared vision of community empowerment. We import beans directly from co-ops we’ve worked with, in some cases, for decades, paying fair, above-market prices, offering pre-harvest financing, and funding community and agricultural projects initiated and managed by the farmer groups themselves. We grade the coffee we receive from the farms by reviewing rigorously for quality and defects, then roast and blend at the roastery we built at our co-op headquarters in 2005. We bring our coffee as directly as possible to market, shipping directly to many stores and to our customers who order by the case on our site. This process yields affordable, high quality coffee, with the cost being distributed more equitably and efficiently amongst the actual stakeholders. The talent, goodwill, and ownership is something that we think you can taste in each cup!
L is for Land Ownership
When you own the land you farm, you decide what to plant, when to harvest, and which maintenance methods to use. More importantly, you’re the one who controls your own livelihood. For Black farmers in the United States, land ownership is tied to freedom. But systematic racial discrimination has pushed many out of agriculture. Equal Exchange’s partners at New Communities, who supply our fair trade pecans, know the power of land — and these challenges — firsthand. They farm in southwest Georgia, in one of the poorest parts of the state. Over the organization’s fifty year history, these tenacious farmers have experienced more than their share of hardship and prejudice. Yet today, they are still farming and looking to the future.
M is for the 5 M’s of Soil Health
A vital aspect of organic farming is building rich, healthy soil, giving plants greater resilience to extreme climate conditions such as flooding or drought. Farmers work to enrich the soil by adding compost and minerals, thus retaining moisture and supporting the soil carbon sponge. Plants grown in this rich organic matter absorb more atmospheric carbon and fix it in the ground. Fungi and microorganisms that develop in the rich soil help to stabilize soil carbon. This soil carbon sponge is the key to nature’s ability to return carbon from the atmosphere to the land to cool the earth. Microbe-rich, “living soil” also absorbs more water, especially in heavy rains, making the ground more resilient to erosion and evaporation. We partner with COMSA, an inspiring coffee growing co-op in Marcala, La Paz, Honduras that has gained a reputation for its effective organic practices and for its methods of enriching the soil organically through the use of natural microorganisms. COMSA has even created a school at La Fortaleza model farm to offer educational workshops for co-op members as well as other farmers from around the world who come to learn practical and inspiring approaches to soil health and organic agriculture—like the 5 M’s of Soil Health. COMSA embraces economic, social, and environmental strategies to reduce poverty in their co-op of 1200 farmer members.
N is for “Never sell out”
Equal Exchange is an independent, worker-owned cooperative. We wrote our bylaws to include a “Never Sell Out” clause, ensuring that if we ever sold our company, all net proceeds would be donated to another alternative trade organization, rather than taken home as profit. While this is pretty unusual (even unheard of) in conventional business, it’s just proof of our commitment to being “all in” on our mission of making space at the table for small farmers and democratic cooperatives. In an industry increasingly dominated by consolidated big business, these practices are as important to preserve as ever.
O is for Operations & Orders
From seed to cup, there are many important roles involved in our fair trade co-op business. Our production, warehouse, and customer service teams play the vital role of getting our coffees, chocolates, teas and other foods shipped out to our customers every day. As worker-owners of the business these teams also have the dual role of being co-op owners. Terry, in Warehouse Operations, shares candidly, “I have never been very tech-savvy but I find myself doing some pretty advanced work on the virtual side, as well as physically. On the Co-op side, I have participated in many small ways over the years such as facilitating staff meetings, mentoring new employees on their journey to becoming worker-owners, participating on hiring committees, and representing Equal Exchange at events, just to name a few. Our team has a camaraderie that I would imagine is hard to find in other companies.”
P is for Co-op Principles
The modern co-op movement grew out of a long history of co-op ventures, and today many co-ops of all kinds are founded based on the principles and values codified by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). This set of 7 principles defines what a co-op offers: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, members’ economic participation, autonomy and independence as a business/entity, access to education and training, concern for community and one of our favorites, Principle 6: Cooperation Among Cooperatives. What does this mean to us? Well, we based our business model on the idea of importing products directly from farmer cooperatives and organizing our own business as a worker-owned cooperative. We’ve taken that further by partnering with co-op grocery stores across the country to sell Equal Exchange goods, forming business ties with international sister cooperatives in the fair trade sector, like La Siembra in Canada and Equal Exchange UK, and even by organizing a community of our customers as Citizen-Consumers to serve on our board and represent the needs and values of our customer stakeholders.
Q is for Quality Control
Quality is of the utmost importance for us at Equal Exchange. We go to great lengths to support our farmer partners and to speak a shared language when it comes to the quality of the agricultural products we import. In crops like coffee, every step in growing and processing impacts the final product, from farm elevation, humidity, soil quality, amount of shade and sun, to how the green beans are stored and transported and then roasted. We have extensive procedures to evaluate all of our coffee, which means spending a lot of time cupping, sorting and analyzing what comes into our Quality Control lab and determining roast recipes to highlight specific flavor characteristics or tame others. This important process takes time, patience and experimentation, but this care elevates everyone in the supply chain, from the farmer getting a better price for high quality beans to our loyal customers who understand that solidarity can truly taste this good.
R is for Renewable Energy & Roasting
Up above our Massachusetts coffee roastery we’ve installed a 560 kW solar array that has over 1,400 solar panels. Coffee roasting takes a lot of energy, but this array will offset an estimated 562 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) every year. That’s equivalent to CO2 emissions from burning 561,900 pounds of coal or 57,400 gallons of gasoline! Powering our roasting operation with renewable energy is one step we can take on our end of the coffee supply chain to keep this product sustainable, knowing that our farmer partners are also working hard to capture carbon, reduce runoff and water waste, and eliminate toxic pesticides on their land.
S is for Solidarity
Since 1986, we’ve been dedicated to creating a trade model that presents a true alternative to the corporate winner-take-all model. Our organization is based instead upon the idea that people all over the world are entitled to a decent quality of life and dignified work that provides enough money for food, shelter, medical care, and education for their children. While enjoying coffee, chocolate and tea, we think about the many people involved in the journey that brought these goods to our home. We are all connected.
T is for Tea
Tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world (after plain water), but most teas we find on our shelves–even those that are certified as fair trade–come from large plantations that were established under colonialism. Equal Exchange’s tea sourcing model is different, one where small-scale farmers have direct access to the global market, affording them more economic power and healthier communities. We work with organizations in India, Sri Lanka and South Africa who are working to connect small farming communities, many of whom grow a variety of spices and other subsistence crops, with the processing and shipping logistics necessary to get their products to market, and into your cup.
U is for Uncommon Practices
Compared to the corporate status quo, there are some key ways that Equal Exchange’s practices are pretty uncommon. At its core, Equal Exchange is about paying above-market prices directly to small farmers. Our business decisions are based not on lowering costs or minimizing risk but on taking risks together with our partners. We work with new and emerging farming groups and offer pre-payment well ahead of the harvest to finance the farm work. This allows farmers to rely on a more steady income throughout the fluctuations of the farming calendar. Behind all of our products, there is a human network based on respect, democracy, engagement, and shared learning.
V is for Voting
In our worker-owned co-op, we each have an equal vote (from founder to newest member) in our elections. We vote to choose Equal Exchange’s board members, to amend our bylaws, and to approve new worker members of the co-op. Voting is just one way that we exercise our democracy in the workplace. As our co-op has grown to include warehouses, hubs, and home offices across time zones we’ve had to evolve from paper ballots to digital ballots and formalize our practices. We’re used to taking attendance to ‘establish quorum’ at the beginning of our co-op meetings and other somewhat wonky governance practices. That’s all just part of being a worker-owner at Equal Exchange!
W is for Worker-Owned
Each worker-owner at Equal Exchange invests an equal share in the business upon becoming a member. We distribute any excess profit equally at the end of each year amongst the Worker-Owners, keeping a base amount to re-invest in the co-op to fund our work and earn modest dividends. In this way, our business isn’t owned by outside shareholders or a small group of founders or partners but by all the employees in equal portions. We’re not designed to maximize profits or return on investment to shareholders, but rather to bring to the workplace many of the rights and responsibilities that we hold as citizens in our communities.
XYZ Generations
Equal Exchange has proven across generations that an alternative mission and business model is possible. From its inception by activist Boomers in the 1980s, through the robust growth in the specialty coffee market fueled by Gen Xers and Millenials, through economic recession and the degradation of fair trade standards in the 2010s, and into an uncertain environment of climate change alongside the increased pressure of corporate consolidation today. What does the future hold for fair traders, farmers, and ethical consumers? In many farming communities, the youth are overwhelmingly migrating to cities, unwilling to take on the risks of their family farms. Costs and prices continue to rise globally. What role can we – as worker-owners, alternative traders, and Citizen-Consumers – play to support the generations to come?