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According to a recent Canadian census report, organic farming is bigger than ever, says the Toronto Star. Statistics Canada says the number of certified organic producers in the country has risen nearly 60 percent since 2001. While this is a huge growth in the industry, and represents a huge boost to small, local producers – there’s still lots of room to grow. A spokesperson for the Canadian Organic Growers association is quoted as saying that “the No. 1 issue right now in the organic industry is there are not enough domestic suppliers.” Click HERE! if you want to read the official Statistics Canada report.
Oxfam New Zealand is getting the ball rolling in conjunction with the upcoming Fair Trade Fortnight (set to kick off April 28), with spokesperson Kirsten Morrell of the New Zealand pop band Goldenhorse leading an Oxfam fundraiser. In a recent New Zealand Herald article the singer also shares a favorite coffee cake recipe. On a related note, the article says that demand for Fair Trade coffee in New Zealand rose 1700 percent in the last two years.
The New York Times has an interesting profile on some coffee growing cooperatives in the troubled Chiapas region in Mexico. The article cites examples of successful co-ops in the region who have benefited from fair trade coffee prices, in turn using their incomes to fund better community programs, education, even in one case a new computer centre. However, the article also points out that some smaller growers might be getting pushed out of the market by the larger producers who are now increasingly getting into the fair trade market.
Researchers in the UK are trying to make your fairly traded coffee easier to verify. The New Scientist reports of a project that will use bar-code technology to trace the production stages of the jar of coffee you pick up at the supermarket. At each stage of production the item would be scanned and verified and the info put in a database so each person involved in the process – including the end consumer – would be able to see how and where it was made.
New to the world of green, organic and fair trade products? Confused about the different labels and certifications and what they mean? Toronto’s newsweekly NOW features a quick primer to help you navigate through the clutter and (hopefully) make good choices as a consumer, as part of this week’s ”Green Issue“. (Note: of course not making any consumer choice might really be the best ecological choice, but that’s another topic for another day…..) The article highlights certifications and label systems for a wide range of products, not just tea and coffees but pertaining to meat, fish and others. You can read the full article HERE!
As part of their series on green living, the Chicago Sun-Times writer Janet Rausa Fuller has a piece on Fair Trade Coffee. The article profiles Geoff Watts, buyer for Chicago-based coffee company Intelligentsia, who says “if you want to begin talking about sustainability, you really have to look at economic stability” linking sound ecological practices with fair prices for growers. The article also showcases cafes in the Chicago area providing organic and fair trade coffees.
Last week it was announced that Wolfville, Nova Scotia would become Canada’s first “Free Trade Town”. According to a story in the CBC, Wolfville Mayor Bob Stead said “the town has committed to using fair trade coffees, teas, sugars and other products in restaurants and at Acadia university“.
Moreover, Mayor Stead also said that local farmers will be better protected under this new certification, as the town will promote the “local” factor of fair trade as it applies to local growers.
If you’re a faithful person, and you attend your worship services and stay for coffee and socializing afterwards, ask yourself if the coffee you’re drinking is what God wants you to have. A small, but growing number of churches in Europe and North America are taking on fair trade, turning the issues into a matter of faith. In a recent artcile in the Baptist Standard, a retired United Church of Christ pastor says “buying coffee from a socially responsible company lets him be faithful to God“. In the same article, the pastor says that “from a mission point of view, from a theological, spiritual point of view, if there’s violence in the world then we seek to correct the violence.”
Transfair USA is the United States’ only fair trade certifying organization. Transfair works with companies and organizations around the US to help them meet fair trade product certification. Here’s an interview with Paul Rice, CEO of Transfair USA from the website www.worldchanging.com as he discusses his work, the challenges that lie ahead and his thoughts on some of the larger coffee companies and their status.
Today I spent the day with my wife. With our schedules this past week it’s been tough seeing her for more than an hour a day, so I savored every minute spent with her. Our morning started off at our local cafe, where I enjoyed something called a Decaf Peruvian Royal- it wasn’t the best coffee I’ve had, but it was a very nice brew for a mid morning drink. It’s a water-processed decaffeinated coffee (in a nutshell, using only water to decaf the bean, no chemicals) and the coffee itself was very very mild, and I found little aftertaste in it. The aroma was pleasant, perhaps a slight smokiness to it. I’d decided to forgo caffeine this morning, but the accompanying pastry more than made up for it – something called cocoa crunch or something like that – it was a muffin with shaved cocoa slivers and espresso beans.
The cafe is now showing artwork by an artist called Laura Lee Therrien. Hanging around the walls of the coffeehouse are papier mache masks made from recycled household materials – they include owls, beavers, birds, along with some more abstract creatures, most interestingly something called “The Grotesque”, a bat like creature in grey, with burlap wings.
