Coffee, Coops, and Climate Change

Victor Hugo Garcia Lopez relaxing with his children after offering me a tour of his organic coffee farm.
Co-operatives Supporting Co-operatives!
Co-op Food Stores in New Hampshire has a strong commitment to supporting family farmers, sustainable agriculture, and what we like to call the “cooperative supply chain” which basically means, co-operatives supporting other co-operatives.  In the case of Co-op Food Stores, we have created a very special relationship between CIRSA, one of my favorite coffee co-ops in Chiapas, Mexico, Equal Exchange, and Co-op Food Stores.  This “sister co-op relationship” is part of the Co-op brand coffee program that we have created, whereby for every pound of Co-op brand coffee sold, Co-op Food Stores and Equal Exchange each invest 20 cents into the Sister Co-op Partner Fund.  Money from this fund goes directly to CIRSA to support their efforts to build resiliency in the face of dramatically changing weather patterns.  In Simojovel, Chiapas, where these communities of indigenous small-scale farmers make their living exclusively from the production and sale of their coffee, unseasonably long rainy seasons and the “roya” (coffee rust disease) has reduced their overall yields by 70% in the past two years.  Co-op Food Stores and Equal Exchange have raised enough money to help CIRSA build solar dryers which keep the coffee dry even under relentless rains, in two of their thirteen member communities.  We are now trying to raise money for additional dryers in the remaining communities.
Below is an article written by Amanda Charland, Director of Outreach and Member Services for Co-op Food Stores.  For more information about this partnership please go here.  To learn more about how you can support Equal Exchange’s Climate Justice Fund, where 100% of the donations go directly to support our farmer partners in their efforts to build resiliency in the face of climate change, please call Phyllis Robinson, Education & Campaigns Manager, at 774-776-7390. To make a donation to our Fund, you can also send a tax deductible donation to our NGO partner, Hesperian Health Guides, 1919 Addison Street, Suite 304, Berkeley, CA 94704.  Be sure to write Equal Exchange Climate Justice Fund on the check.
Coffee, Coops, and Climate Change
When I left New Hampshire, bound for Mexico, it was three in the morning and snowing. In the rush, I barely stopped to think about the routine filling of my coffee mug, except for the momentary relief the hot beverage provided from the cold.
As I trudged through the snow, grasping my warm beverage, carrying all my belongings for the week on my back, I never realized that I was about to say goodbye to something. After this trip, my relationship with coffee would never be the same.
Mexico or Bust
The minute my feet hit solid ground after a very long day of flights, my appreciation for coffee had already grown tenfold. The sheer distance we had traveled was exhausting, and we still weren’t at the coffee farms! Our mission in Mexico seemed simple enough: meet with our sister cooperative—a partnership project set up by Equal Exchange—and learn about the process of coffee. I thought, “I know what to expect. I’ve seen videos and pictures of coffee being harvested.” In a very small way, I was right. The physical processing of the coffee is pretty straightforward—very labor intensive, but straightforward.
I was very wrong about the rest of the story. Coffee farming is complicated and surrounded by a web of influence that pictures and videos can’t describe.
Read more here.