Articles
The Story Behind Our Alternative Trade Partnership with Gebana Burkina Faso
Since our founding, Equal Exchange has sought to partner with visionary, democratic, and sustainably-minded producer groups, distributors, food cooperatives, and natural grocery stores. This approach is no longer enough. We now have to respond to this growing corporate threat by taking our model one step further: partnering with other Alternative Trade Organizations and building bridges amongst ourselves, as if we were islands floating in a large ocean that is today’s food system. We believe this is the only way to survive, continue to thrive, and achieve our mutual goal of a food system that works for everyone, not just corporations.
The Dark Side of the Cashew Industry
“If cashew importers want to ensure that their supply chains are not tainted with forced labor and abuse, they need to very closely scrutinize where they source their products,” –Joseph Amon, Director of Human Rights Watch, Health & Human Rights Division
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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
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.
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?
Checking in with Santiago Paz of Cooperativa Norandino
Santiago Paz, Co-director and Export Manager of Norandino, a cooperative aggregating 90 grassroots organizations in Northwest Peru, is one of the inspiring and visionary leaders who has walked the road with us through the years. Here, he shares what the last few years have meant for Norandino.
Investing in Our Planet With Organic Cacao Farming
This year’s global Earth Day theme is “Invest in Our Planet.” We’ve been investing in our future by supporting organic agriculture for over 35 years. But what does organic agriculture actually mean for farmers and the planet?
Relationships in the Time of COVID
Despite the extra layer of stresses and worries the pandemic is causing, we at Equal Exchange are also feeling a depth of gratitude and affection for the myriad relationships that we have cultivated over these past four decades. Creating, maintaining, and deepening relationships are the pillars that our organization and our business model are built upon.
Palestinian Olive Oil and Dates
Learn more about Palestinian olive oil and dates from the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee.
Women in Coffee
At Equal Exchange, we advocate for increased gender equality at every stage of the supply chain. We salute our sisters around the world who work as agronomists and cuppers. We cheer those who take on leadership roles in their co-ops. And we appreciate our women co-workers in the U.S.
A Farmer-Led Future for Tea
Did you know that tea is the second most popular drink in the world—second only to water? Here’s another question: do you know that, even today, it is likely that the tea products lining your grocery store’s shelves—even those sold as Fair Trade—were sourced from plantations established under colonialism?
Equal Exchange Donor Advised Fund
We must complement our commercial work with collaborative development work, so we established a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) with RSF Social Finance to support organizational development, technical assistance to farmers, income diversification, and gender equity projects with a core group of six producer partners.
USAID Cooperative Development Program
Equal Exchange began this project in 2010 with the goal of strengthening its supply chain partners and engaging with them in new and innovative ways, focusing on cooperative improvements in productivity levels, quality and capitalization through member education and equity.
Learn the Story of the Black Farmers Who Grow Equal Exchange Pecans
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.