Co-op to Co-op Fair Trade: Equal Exchange Introduces Fair Trade Snacks

By Barth Anderson, Wedge Community Co-op, Minneapolis, MN

Equal Exchange, known for Fairly Traded coffee, tea and chocolate, has introduced a line of packaged snacks in partnership with grocery co-operatives across the country. These “Domestic Fair Trade� products, including Organic Dried Cranberries, Roasted Pecans, and Organic Tamari-Roasted Almonds, are sourced from family farmers and farmer co-operatives right here in the US.

“Our relationships with these producers are guided by our mission and 20 years experience as a Co-operative Fair Trade Organization,� said Erbin Crowell, Domestic Fair Trade Program Manager for Equal Exchange.

For example, Equal Exchange’s roasted pecans are grown in southwest Georgia by the members of the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op (SAAC), a co-operative of African-American farmers and workers. In a region devastated by unemployment, SAAC helps to market its members’ pecans and operates a shelling facility that provides jobs in the community.

How does Fair Trade work in a domestic setting like this one? “Fair Trade is not just about price, but about building long-term partnerships,� said Crowell. “Before we even purchased any pecans, Equal Exchange worked with SAAC to upgrade their equipment, figure out fair pricing, and pre-paid about half of the contract so they had working capital for the season.� Equal Exchange also provided an additional ‘fair trade development premium’ that the co-op can invest toward community needs.

Equal Exchange’s commitment to Fair Trade also emphasizes connecting consumers with the folks who grow their food. “The farmer’s identity didn’t vanish into the commodity system when she sold her pecans,� said Crowell. “Her pecans were shelled by her co-op which means that more of the money, resources and jobs stayed in her own community. Equal Exchange marketed the pecans, which means that more of the resources stayed in the co-op community, accountable to the Fair Trade mission. And they’re being sold in food co-ops, which means that consumers are learning more about where their food comes from and how Fair Trade relates to co-operative values. And through this whole chain, we never lose sight of the farmer who grew those pecans.�

On the back of each package is a code that consumers can type in at Equal Exchange’s website in order to learn more about the people who grew and processed their snacks.

This “co-op to co-op to co-op� food chain provides an alternative to the global corporate food system. As control of food processing and distribution has become more concentrated among an ever-shrinking list of large corporations, farmers and farm workers around the globe are caught between declining prices for their products, the consolidation of processing, markets and distribution, and tightening control over inputs such as seed. Today, for example, just 10 corporations account for over 50% of the revenue generated globally by food retailing. And as agribusiness profits have gone up, the share of the consumer dollar received by farming communities has declined dramatically. Here in the US, the total number of farms fell from 6.5 million to just over 2 million between 1935 and 1997. And by 2003, there were just 1.9 million working farmers in the country — less than the prison population.

Back in 1986, Equal Exchange set out to change the way people think about food and trade. Their goal was to provide a Fair Trade link between shoppers and farming co-operatives in the developing world. Among their first partners in this concept were grocery co-ops that shared their mission of building a more just, sustainable and democratic food system. The partnership was a natural, and, together, co-operatives laid the foundation for what Fair Trade has become in the US, and what it can be in the future.

Now, twenty years later, Fair Trade has entered the mainstream. While it wasn’t so long ago that the coffee industry dismissed more equitable relationships with small farmers as unrealistic, today there are some 400 companies purchasing at least a small portion of their coffee under Fair Trade terms. And Fair Trade isn’t just for coffee any more: products such as chocolate, tea, and bananas have become common not just on the shelves of food co-ops, but in the aisles of mainstream grocery stores. Now we can add American-grown pecans, almonds, and cranberries to the list.

Together, co-operatives are continuing to create a vision for a more just, sustainable and democratic food system around the world and here in our own backyard.

Look for Equal Exchange’s fairly traded packaged snacks, including Roasted Salted Pecans, Organic Dried Cranberries, and Organic Tamari-Roasted Almonds in your local food co-op. For more information on Equal Exchange’s Domestic Fair Trade Program, visit www.equalexchange.coop/dft.

Barth Anderson is Research & Development Coordinator at the Wedge Community Co-op? in Minneapolis, MN. He can be contacted at barth@wedge.coop. Erbin Crowell, Domestic Fair Trade Program Manager at Equal Exchange, can be contacted at erbin@equalexchange.coop.