Co-op to Co-op

New Bonds Renew Communities

By Elizabeth Archerd, Member Services Director

Sitting down to chat with Scott Patterson, the local Equal Exchange Warehouse Manager and Project Coordinator, was an education on thinking cooperatively to act locally, globally and all stages in between. Scott wants Wedge members to know about developments between Equal Exchange (EE), a Fair Trade pioneer and worker-owned co-op, and the Wedge's own Co-op Partners Warehouse (CPW).

EE was started in 1986 to help small-scale Central American coffee-growers who, caught in the morass of political upheaval, had lost access to the U.S. market and thus, their livelihood. EE went on to develop contacts all over the world and expanded Fair Trade relationships with small-scale producers of tea, chocolate, cocoa and bananas. Yet small-scale American producers face the same challenges as their third-world counterparts, such as limited access to capital and markets, so EE started to bring Fair Trade principles home.*

That is where the co-op connection comes in. With offices on both coasts, EE was ready to open a Midwestern distribution center. Scott notes that Minnesota is unique in the nation for its strong support for co-ops and direct connections with producers, both of which are at the heart of the EE mission.

CPW already delivers local and regional products to co-ops in the 5-state area. When Scott learned from a former Wedge director that there was room at the newly expanded CPW, he approached Wedge GM Lindy Bannister. Since the Wedge and CPW have made a commitment to Fair Trade at the highest level, she immediately appreciated the natural fit between the organizations.

Obviously, Scott said, CPW has been an ally for local farmers here, and it is a nice parallel for EE working with US growers. EE hopes to work with more regional producers and will not have to develop the regional food system from scratch because CPW and the Wedge have been doing this for over a generation.

Scott describes our unique way of doing business using terms like "direct connections" and "risk-sharing." Through grants from EE and Oxfam USA, Georgia pecan producers were able to refurbish processing equipment, for example, so they sell a value-added product instead of a commodity. That enhances farm income, which greatly enhances the chance that producers will stay in business.

Relationships are at the heart of it all. When a mistake left the pecan growers with a large quantity of pecan halves with no buyer, EE took the entire stock to sell, in bulk, to co-ops. CPW took a significant percentage of the pecans for the Wedge and other co-ops.

EE recently introduced a new line of packaged snacks, including the Georgia pecans. This product in particular highlights co-op connections: the growers are part of a co-op; the processor, Once Again Nut Butters, is a worker-owned co-op; EE is a co-op; and the pecans are shipped from CPW only to co-ops.

What can a vigorous domestic Fair Trade economy do? It can enliven and strengthen local and regional food systems. In place of centralization and cutting the cheapest deal, the lifeblood of industrial food, Fair Trade is based on relationships of mutual respect. Small-scale producers are at the beginning of the sustainable food chain with appreciative consumers at the other end. In between are Equal Exchange, CPW and your co-op.

*The first such effort, a partnership with pecan growers in the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op in Georgia, was featured in the April/May 07 issue of At the Wedge.