The UCC Coffee Project means that your congregation can partner with UCC Justice and Witness Ministries and Equal Exchange in building fair trade for small farming communities by serving fairly traded coffee, tea and cocoa, and chocolate, almonds, and olive oil for justice at fellowship hour on Sundays.
The UCC Coffee Project is a way for your congregation to join hands with communities in the developing world. As Christians we can address a consumer dilemma by buying coffee and other commodities that are fairly traded. Through the project, small farmers and their families gain more control over their lives, earn a fairer share of income, have access to credit and technical support, and gain a trading partner they can trust, a fair trade organization called Equal Exchange. And, through the project, members of your congregation can learn about consumption habits that support small scale farmers and workers throughout the world and encourage careful stewardship of God's creation. At fellowship hour, you will be taking action in a spirit of love.
Small Farmers Fund
Equal Exchange Coffee contributes $0.15 to the UCC Justice & Witness Ministries Small Farmers' Fund for every pound of fairly traded products sold. In 2011, the Equal Exchange's contribution to the Small Farmers' Fund was $9,260.05. In 2010, the Small Farmers' Fund earned $10,826.52. The UCC is using the Small Farmers Fund to support theJUST FOOD Project at the UCC's Franklinton Center.
Support authentic fair trade by supporting authentic small farmer co-operatives. Maintain fair trade standards. Keep plantations out of the fair trade system.
TransFair USA, long a major certifying body for fair trade products, has withdrawn from FLO International, the International Fair Trade Certifying body. Transfair USA had ceased to practice the original Fair Trade mission—to support small farmer organizations by helping them gain access to the international market. Equal Exchange, our partner in the UCC Coffee Project, left Transfair in the summer of 2010, to affiliate with another certification agency, IMO, the Instutute of Marketecology, because, for example, Transfair USA had increasingly permitted products from large plantations to be certified as Fair Trade.
January, 2012: Equal Exchange has launched a campaign to reconnect participants in our UCC Coffee Project and other to the root value of fair trade, whose primary goal is to build market share for small farmers. Check out the campaign at the Equal Exchange site.
November 23, 2011: NY Times reports on tempest in the fair trade movement, quoting Rink Dickinson, president of Equal Exchange, who castigates Transfair's move to certify plantation grown coffee as "fair trade" as "a betrayal." Equal Exchange remains faithful to its mission of supporting small farmer cooperatives in the world's coffee-growing regions. Transfair has now changed its name to Fair Trade USA.
A Taste of Justiceis the quarterly online newsletter of the Equal Exchange Interfaitn Program about current Fair Trade issues, new initiatives and products, and what other congregations are doing.
The Exchange, is the newsletter of Equal Exchange Coffee.
Explore educational resources about particular fairly traded products:
Fund Raisingwith fairly traded, Equal Exchange products
A Bitter Cup? Facts about Coffee
Coffee is one of the most heavily traded commodities in the world.
Americans drink approximately 320 million cups of coffee every day?20 percent of the world's total coffee production.
Some 20 million people near the equator depend on coffee for their livelihood, but for many the coffee trade keeps them trapped in poverty. With little access to markets, farmers often sell through middlemen who offer the lowest price possible. With world coffee prices in constant flux, farmers have no guarantee of how much they will receive for their crop.
Fair Trade Standards and Equal Exchange
Equal Exchange Coffee is a worker-owned fair trade company, founded in 1986, that offers consumers fairly traded gourmet coffee direct from small-scale farmer co-ops in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Equal Exchange seeks to establish an alternative model of trade, one that benefits small farmers directly through the following fair trade standards that apply to all Equal Exchange products:
Always pay a guaranteed minimum price to the farmer.
Work directly with democratic cooperatives of small scale farmers.
Ms. Jan Resseger Minister for Public Education and Witness Program Team Based in Cleveland, Ohio Justice And Witness Ministries 700 Prospect Ave. Cleveland,Ohio 44115 216-736-3711 ressegerj@ucc.org
