The first five months of the year are usually the most difficult for our small-scale banana farmer partners due to weather difficulties. Problems due to the rainy season are expected. However, what’s happening this year is unusual. The intensity of the rains has put our farmer partners and the Oké USA banana team against new challenges that we were unprepared for. There has been a lot of creative problem solving and last minute decision making in order to fulfill orders on time. In these challenging times, we do everything on our end in order to support our farmer partners by: coordinating with shipping lines, giving credit to buy inputs such as boxes, and supporting staff through logistics and technical assistance, all in order to help them harvest the fruit and fulfill orders on time.
Tags: environment
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Equal ExchangeApril 3, 2017Torrential rainfall in Peru has triggered landslides and flooding, causing devastation across large parts of the country, including Lima, Piura, Lambayeque, Tumbes, Cajamarca and Ica. Many communities have been cut off by damaged roads, making access to services very difficult. Equal Exchange has had particularly deep relationships with farmer cooperatives in Piura, dating back 20 years with coffee. Our banana affiliate, Oké USA, also began sourcing bananas from co-ops a decade ago, and more recently we have sourced mangos from the region.
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Ashley SymonsMarch 7, 2017Carly Kadlec is the Green Coffee Buyer at Equal Exchange, and one of the women that inspires me in our work toward trade justice. I’ve been fortunate to travel with Carly on visits to coffee farms in Honduras and Guatemala. Since March 8 is International Women’s Day, I wanted to sit down with Carly and talk about her work with coffee producers ... but, she’s on the road, as she often is, so we bring you this Q&A, across 2,500 miles.
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Equal ExchangeJanuary 27, 2017The Women’s March on Washington (and elsewhere) on Jan. 21 brought many of us to the streets, to stand in solidarity with those most vulnerable to systems of oppression and prejudice. Our daily work to build supply chains for small-scale farmers touches many of the issues that were marched for, from climate change to gender justice to indigenous people’s rights. Here are some of the reasons we marched, in our own words.
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Peter BuckJune 6, 2016Catholic Relief Services and Equal Exchange both collaborate with farmer partners to foster the development of their communities, combat the effects of climate change and counter the coffee rust plague and other diseases affecting coffee trees. -
Carly KadlecApril 12, 2016As organic farmers, many of our partners are especially susceptible to the multitude of environmental threats brought on by climate change. These new challenges, including the recent prevalence of the destructive fungus known as coffee leaf rust, are a real danger to the productivity of organic farms and the livelihoods of the people who rely on coffee.
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Peter BuckJune 26, 2015There’s excitement here at Equal Exchange about Pope Francis’ encyclical letter on the environment, “Laudato Si’ (Praise Be): Care for our Common Home.” In the Pope’s encyclical, he makes a powerful call for urgent action on climate change and environmental pollution. These issues are of paramount importance to many, including us at Equal Exchange.
