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Fall 2010
A Cooperative Coffees e-Newsletter for and about Fair Trade
Fall 2010
In this issue...
Reach out!
As usual, we welcome Fall with a busy and full schedule! August included a number of trips to origin and CRS-organized workshops. In September, we participated in the largest convergence of fair traders in North America at the Fair Trade Futures Conference in Quincy, MA - during which we discussed and debated the future of the movement with over 760 advocates, businesspeople, students, and consumers. A week later, we jetted over to Madison, WI for our coop's annual general meeting at the Just Coffee facilities in the heart of the city. Discussions of the fair trade movement, the current coffee prices, and our own Strategic Plan for the next 3 years kept us fully engaged and occupied for the weekend! Now we're back in our respective offices and communities, catching our breath and getting ready to begin work on the many goals and objectives we identified for 2011!
Additionally, our roasters are busy in their own endeavors: Peace Coffee is soon to launch their first coffee shop in the Twin Cities - currently in the final touches of renovating, and retro-fitting with recycled building materials and state of the art coffee equipment for an eco-hip, top-quality site! Meanwhile, Alternative Grounds is encouraging the fair trade town movement in Toronto... and Just Coffee maintains its flurry of travel to visit our producer partners in Latin America!
As we lay out the road map for 2011 and beyond, we'll take a brief moment to get you up to speed with what's gone down over the last months...and offer a glimpse of what's to come!
Thanks and enjoy your read!
Let us know what changes you'd like to see in this newsletter by emailing us at bignews@coopcoffees.com.
Outreach and Communications
AGM 2010: paving the path of our future
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From September 16th to the 18th, a group of 45 people – including the majority of our roaster members and staff, as well as several producer reps and allies gathered in member-roaster Just Coffee’s offices for our annual general meeting. The three days were replete with heated discussion, debate, coffee slurping (we are coffee roasters after all), and catching up on the latest news in our local and global communities. |
SCAA Cupping Course at Coop Coffees' "Labo Equitable" this December!
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Register now to become a certified judge and/or Q-grader at the SCAA accredited course given at our very own "Labo Equitable" in Montreal, Quebec, Canada! The course is instructed by Coffee Lab International owner and manger, Mane Alves who is a highly qualified master roaster and renowned quality control/cupping trainer. Come and learn about the aromas, the tastes, and the nuances of coffee! Course dates: December 6 - 10, 2010 in Montreal, QC |
Roaster News
Peace Coffee's new, exciting project
Alternative Grounds spearheads campaign for a Fair Trade Toronto
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Alternative Grounds has been a trail-blazer of the fair trade movement ever since they set up shop in Toronto 15 years ago. It seems that the energy that sparked their original plan to roast and sell fairly traded, organic coffee in a warm and welcoming cafe on Roncesvalles Ave, has many more trails to blaze! Newspaper "The Toronto Sun" recently featured Linda Burnside, owner of Alt. Grounds for her admirable efforts to turn Toronto into a fair trade town! |
Producer News
Producer partner reps weigh in on fair trade
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With so many important events happening the world of Coop Coffees, we would be remiss to not try and get as many producer voices at the table as possible! For the Fair Trade Futures Conference (Sept 10-12), six representatives from groups that we work with were able to attend and even speak on several panels. A week later, during our annual assembly, four representatives joined our discussions on the direction of fair trade and our mutual responsibilities in shaping that direction. During their visit to Just Coffee, Policarpio of FECAFEB (Bolivia), Blanca Rosa and Martha of CECOCAFEN (Nicaragua), and Santiago Paz of CEPICAFE (Peru) "captured the ears" of the Madison media and public for an interview on a community radio station. |
Travel: Where in the world is Coop Coffees?
Just Coffee travels all over Central America in 8 (very full) days!
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Just Coffee's Producer Relations team (Matt Earley and Julia Baumgartner) embarked on an ambitious, rainy Central American adventure August 9th to the 18th, traveling tirelessly throughout three Central American countries, set on catching up with old friends, hearing about new projects, new challenges, new goals, meeting new producer groups, and strengthening already existing relationships. |
The latest in the Fair Trade movement
Fair Trade Futures Conference begins a new chapter for fair trade
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On September 10th 2010, over 760 Fair Traders from all over the country, the continent, and the global community squeezed into the main conference room of the Marriott in Quincy, Massachusetts to begin the largest Fair Trade extravaganza of the year…if not, in history! |
OCA launches "Fair World Project"
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The Organic Consumers Association has recently launched the Fair World Project "to promote fair trade in commerce, especially in organic production systems, and to protect the term "fair trade" from dilution and misuse for mere PR purposes, as conscious consumers expand the market for fairly traded products." This new initiative is a wonderful resource for a solid and committed understanding of fair trade principles as well as the latest news on the challenges of the movement. |
