Articles
Changing to Compostable Chocolate Packaging
We’re excited to announce that we are in the process of transitioning from our current white inner wrapper, which is made of #5 recyclable plastic, to a more environmentally-friendly, plastic-free, and compostable film that will still ensure the same level of freshness and preservation for our chocolate bars. Keep an eye out for these new clear wrappers as we transition over time!
Sue Morris's Awesome Grassroots Distribution System: Just Food Hub
Just Food Hub is a volunteer group that distributes ethically sourced food to consumers, local organizations, buying clubs, and small businesses throughout New England. Sue Morris, a retired writer and editor living in Marshfield, Vermont, created the organization in 2021. Due to their amazing efforts, Sue and her husband, John, are one of Equal Exchange’s top customers. Sue shares more in her own words.
Colombia Series: Snapshot of an Organic Farm
Our staff recently traveled to Colombia to visit our farmer partners there. It's a common experience: when we go to source and someone asks how the trip was, it is hard to answer. The truth is, the experience is complex. So complex that we are going to take our time to share different reflections, angles, and photos over time, to give a more complex answer. To kick off this series, Lynsey Miller reflects on her visit to a lush and abundant organic coffee farm.
Reflections From Rink: The History of Our Alternative Capital Model
As we enter a new stage of Equal Exchange expanding our capital model, Equal Exchange Co-Founder and President Rink Dickinson reflects on the history of our capital model and its central role in our success in building an actual alternative economic model.
Who Grows the Cacao in Your Chocolate?
Starting around 2000, labor abuses in the cocoa industry began to get international attention. You may have heard about poverty wages, unsafe working conditions, the worst forms of child labor and even modern-day slavery. You may have heard that farming practices that damage the environment were common, too. But what’s going on with that now? Have things gotten any better? (Article updated February 2024)
Current Challenges for Small-Scale Avocado Farmers in Michoacán
At Equal Exchange, we take pride in our model of truly responsible sourcing that promotes economic justice, environmental sustainability, and community development in regions where our products are grown. Despite the efforts made to cultivate positive change, however, there are certain macro-level issues that continue to impact our sourcing partners and their communities. For avocado farming co-operatives PRAGOR and Integradora Vics—our partners in the state of Michoacán, Mexico—the most pressing challenges include falling sales prices amid rising input costs, market rigidity in US stores, and the negative effects of climate change.
These Avocado Farmers Welcome Monarchs
Farmland can be conservation land—when managed with that goal in mind. Monarch butterflies could soon be listed as endangered because of their drastic population decline. While you could plant native milkweed or nectar plants as waystations to help support the population, the farmers in central Mexico who supply Equal Exchange avocados are also protecting and restoring the forests where these amazing butterflies spend the winter.
From Alternative Trade to Corporate Consolidation
Antitrust laws were put into place for a reason. The more consolidated our food system becomes and the greater control corporate monopolies exercise, the worse the outcome will be for farmers, workers, consumers, and the planet. As we continue to double-down on our efforts to support small farmers employing sustainable farming practices, we can—and must—take back our food system.
Truly Responsible Sourcing
Equal Exchange imports avocados exclusively from democratically structured, organic- and Fairtrade-certified cooperatives of small-scale farmers (each possessing under 10 hectares of orchard) in Michoacán. With direct weekly pricing negotiations, additional Fairtrade premiums paid to the cooperatives, and collaborative efforts to maximize efficiency, both parties strive to thrive ethically in an industry dominated by large, foreign-owned corporations.
Citizen-Consumer Reflection: Strength in the Commitment of Many
Thirty-seven years ago, I did not identify primarily as a consumer, and the label still doesn’t quite fit, but I did identify as a citizen open to learning how Nicaraguans were creating more equal social relationships. When volunteering with newly formed sewing cooperatives, I met small farmers who shared stories of how they never were paid a fair price by the buyers of the fruits of their hard labor. I became a small bridge of sales of Nica coffee beans through Equal Exchange.
Becoming a Citizen-Consumer Board Director of Equal Exchange
I was elected to the board of Equal Exchange in June 2020, a couple days after my 22nd birthday. The prior year, I had attended the Equal Exchange Summit as a college student who really liked healthy food and desperately wanted a glimmer of hope that some businesses could benefit people and the environment.
Reflections from Rink on the “Fair Trade Experiment”
Fair Trade is dead. What have we learned, and what’s next? Phyllis Robinson interviews Equal Exchange Co-Founder and President Rink Dickinson as he reflects on the nearly 40 year history of the movement and where it has left us as an organization and a community.
Journey to ACOPAGRO and Connecting Communities with the Origin Bean Program
In 2019, Equal Exchange worked alongside ACOPAGRO cacao co-op of Peru to foster a delegation opportunity like no other. A blend of Equal Exchange worker-owners and customers traveled three hours from the nearest city by boat to learn about cacao farming in the Amazon basin and stayed with gracious hosts who opened their homes and lives to share in this experience.
Extraordinary Coordinator: Michael Williams
The Fair Trade Shop at Our Lord's Lutheran Church in Maryville, Illinois, created by Michael Williams hearkens back to a simpler era. The cozy 12’x12’ space in the Worship Center building is packed with Equal Exchange food and handmade crafts from SERRV artisans.
“In this Together” with Fair Trade Alliance Kerala
“The Solidarity Economy may not really be able to kick in at critical times. Maybe we really have to devise new tools and new ways of engagement to make sure it's able to kick in, which is a dire need right now. The fact is, all of us are in it together, and we are searching for solutions, for answers; that in itself is an important pillar of solidarity.” –Tomy Mathew
Extraordinary Coordinator: Grace Miley
From Grace, “Our church became involved with Equal Exchange in 1996 when we started serving “Fellowship Blend” for any church gatherings. I remember being curious about the concept of fair trade, which was new to me. As EE products expanded, I became the new EE volunteer in our church with no clue where this adventure would lead me.”
Walking the “K’ojolaa” Coffee Trail
On the shores of Lake Atitlán, in the southwestern highlands of Sololá, Guatemala, a promising new cooperative initiative is beginning to take root. The “Coffee Tour K’ojolaa,” is an ecotourism project that was envisioned, planned, and organized by ten Tz’utujil Mayan youth in the small town of San Pedro La Laguna. Ranging in ages from 23-28, the project’s creators are members (or the sons and daughters of members) of Adenisa, a local, small-scale coffee cooperative.
Extraordinary Coordinator: Jane Chandler
Jane has been the fair trade purchaser at West Parish Congregational Church UCC in rural Maine for about 20 years — though no one can recall exactly what year she started. Jane and her husband Jim live year round on the edge of Bryant Pond about 15 minutes away from Bethel. Jane delivers most of her Equal Exchange coffee orders by car or folks pick them up from her house or the church; but she keeps her kayak tied to the dock for emergency caffeine deliveries.
How a Trip to Yellowstone Changed How We Think About Food
40 years ago, our family traveled to Yellowstone National Park to camp for a few days. When we entered the park, the ranger handed us a newspaper with the headline “Human Food Kills Bears”. That headline was about to change our lives and those of our progeny.
Cooperatively Grown Avocados: An Interview with PROFOSMI
We all have differing knowledge of the fruit that has quickly become a staple in the North American diet. Through years of successful marketing, consumers have been taught the many health benefits of consuming avocados and that they spread well on toast. Most of us are aware they are native to Mexico, where 88% of the United States’ imported supply comes from. But what does life look like for a small-scale avocado farmer in the Mexican state of Michoacán? And what is the actual difference between a conventional and an Equal Exchange avocado?