Fair Trade the Co-op Way:

Equal Exchange, Southern Alternatives and The Wedge

Equal Exchange, known for Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate, is introducing a line of packaged snacks exclusive to grocery co-ops across the country: Organic Dried Cranberries, Roasted Salted Pecans and Tamari-Roasted Almonds. Sourced from family farmers and farmer co-operatives in the U.S., these are some of the first "Domestic Fair Trade" products available, and the first from Equal Exchange.

"Our relationships with these [U.S.] producers are guided by our own mission, commitment to Fair Trade principles and experience as a Co-operative Fair Trade Organization," said Erbin Crowell, Domestic Fair Trade Program Manager for Equal Exchange. "Fair Trade is not just about price, but about building long-term partnerships."

For example, Equal Exchange's Domestic Fair Trade pecans are grown in southwest Georgia by members of the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op (SAAC): a co-operative of African-American farmers and workers. The processing facility is a co-op, too, which is in turn owned by the members of SAAC.

"Equal Exchange helped Southern Alternatives upgrade their processing equipment, worked with them to figure out a fair price based on the labor going into processing the pecans and paid an additional 'fair trade development premium' that their co-op allocates to community needs," said Crowell.

Equal Exchange's definition of Domestic Fair Trade depends on the consumer seeing the face of the farmer who grew the product. Consumers can use a code, found on the back of each product package, on Equal Exchange's website to learn more about who produced their item.

"The farmer's identity didn't vanish when she sold her pecan crops; they didn't disappear into the commodity system. [The pecans] were shelled by the farmer's co-op which means that more of the money, resources and jobs stayed in their own community. Equal Exchange marketed the pecans, which means that more of the resources stayed in the co-op community, accountable to the co-op 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 the pecans," Crowell explained.

This "co-op to co-op to co-op" food chain makes sense because it provides an alternative to a grim farming scene in America.

Equal Exchange pre-paid about half of the total pecan contract so that SAAC's pecan farmers would have more working capital for the season. Preserving jobs with this pecan facility has been a huge boon to family farmers in this region. Rural southwest Georgia has been devastated by the move overseas of lucrative textile mills and the overall consolidation of the food system.

As control of the food system 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, only 10 corporations account for over 50% of the revenue generated globally by food retailing.

Contrary to the co-operative model, as agribusiness profits have gone up, the share of the consumer dollar received by farming families has declined dramatically. The total number of farms in the U.S. fell from 6.5 million to just over 2 million between 1935 and 1997. And by 2003, there were only 1.9 million working farmers- a number less than the U.S. prison population.

So how does Fair Trade work in a domestic market like this one? Back in 1986, Equal Exchange set out to change the way we think about food and trade. Their goal, then, was to provide a Fair Trade link between shoppers and independent coffee farmers in the developing world. Among their first partners were food co-ops that shared their mission of building a more just, sustainable and democratic food system. It was a natural partnership and cooperatives co-operating laid the foundation for what Fair Trade has become in the US, and what it can be in the future around the world and in our own backyard.

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. Yet, Fair Trade isn't just for coffee anymore. Common are products such as chocolate, tea and bananas, not just on the shelves of food co-ops, but in the aisles of mainstream grocery stores. Now, add American-grown pecans, almonds and cranberries to the list.

The Wedge is currently carrying Domestic Fair Trade pecan pieces in our Bulk Department and in several recipes in the Deli. Soon, we'll also be carrying Equal Exchange's fairly traded packaged snacks, including Roasted Salted Pecans from SAAC, Organic Dried Cranberries from Mann Farms and Organic Tamari-Roasted Almonds from Big Tree Organic Farms Co-op.