Save the Date!
The 2024 Specialty Coffee Expo, the largest gathering of specialty coffee professionals. will take place in Chicago, Illinois from April 12-14. Registration opens in early 2024.
Mark Your Calendars Now!
Fair Trade Federation is celebrating 30 years! Join them March 26-28, 2024 in Richmond, Virginia to celebrate at their annual Fair Trade Federation Conference & Expo. Learn more.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development IFAD describes their “Top Five” reasons for supporting small-scale farmers – with fascinating facts around production efficiencies and the positive impact on local economies, family livelihoods and natural resources. Get all the details in their recent web post: Why We Love Small Farmers
A Seat at the Table for Small-Holders?
Governments and NGOs are increasingly partnering with the private sector to tackle global hunger and poverty, but a study published by the Fairtrade Foundation UK warns that some agricultural public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Africa appear to prioritize commercial interests while ignoring the needs of the smallholder farmers they claim to help – and they could even exacerbate poverty.
Leaf Rust, or roya, as it is called in Spanish, is a naturally occurring fungus in coffee fields. It can be held in check when the fields are kept in ecological balance. But during the 2012–2013 growing season, with peaks of abnormally high temperatures and prolonged periods of excessive humidity combined with vulnerable soils and trees due to the lack of investment and healthy agricultural practices, the orange fungus can spread like wildfire… which is precisely what happened to coffee farmers in Central America. For the complete Dominion article, check out Coffee Rust Crisis
Many consumers wonder if Fair Trade makes a difference in producers’ lives. Ian Hussey, a PhD student in Sociology with a focus on Fair Trade at York University in Toronto, has recently published his synopsis summing up the last ten years of social science research on the comparative impact of Fair Trade. His conclusions show that Small Farmer Fair Trade works1 while Plantation Fair Trade doesn’t2. To find out why read more here.
