Small Farmers. Big Change.

As a result of a reader’s comment to the previous story, I’ve decided to write a new entry which attempts to further highlight what is so important about small farmer co-operatives and what the differences are between companies who see farmers as partners and those who see them as suppliers.

The questions he asks give me another chance to talk about a group of farmers that has really inspired me and helped renew my conviction that the path we are on – weaving together good business strategies that support urgently needed social change – is absolutely the right one.

To me, the power of this story is in how clearly it illustrates the clash between two world views: the organizational development strategy of a coffee producing co-operative of small-scale farmers and the buying strategy of a large, multi-national coffee company. At Equal Exchange, we believe that these world views don’t have to clash. In fact, we built our organization on the belief that the success of our farmer partners – and our U.S. partners – is also our success. (more…)

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What on earth is this Big Change that Equal Exchange keeps alluding to when we talk about small farmers? Why does Equal Exchange buy our products only from small farmer co-operatives? Why do we feel so strongly about supporting the farmers’ efforts to promote change in their lives, co-operatives and communities?

The following is a story about how a group of farmers from Jaltenango, Chiapas took an interest in growing organic coffee, overcame many obstacles, formed a co-operative, and then overcame many more obstacles. They found an important buyer to purchase their coffee and took a huge risk by terminating their contract when the buyer began to overstep its bounds and impose practices the co-operative felt undermined their development efforts in the zone. (more…)

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