Last week's World Fair Trade Day celebration was a huge success! Thank you to all of our partners who came out to share their stories and products with the city. Thank you to our speakers at our 12noon program. Most of all thank you to everyone who came out to shop & support Fair Trade in Chicago. 

Here are a few pictures from May 9th. Be sure to check out our Facebook page, "like" us and join the conversation!

Mother’s Day is the official day of the year that mothers and mother-figures receive special recognition for the work that they do. Observed all over the world at various times, Mother’s Day is a chance to take a break from the routine and celebrate.

In the US, Mother’s Day traces its roots to the work of several women for different reasons. Some of the first groups gathered for peace for families whose sons died in the American Civil War; some rallied for disarmament in the 1870s; while others assembled around issues of temperance. All of these were smaller celebrations, not making it to the state or national level. It wasn’t until 1910 that West Virginia became the first state to make Mother’s Day an official holiday, and several states promptly followed. In May 1914 Congress passed a law declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.

With such a rich history it is almost shocking to see the commercialism that Mother’s Day has become today. More than that, it is disheartening to know that people are being hurt and exploited by our socially obligatory gifts. What is meant to be a time of thoughtfulness ends up being just another careless purchase.

The International Labour Organization has been tracking the many areas of labor. They have shown that over 70% of global poverty is in rural areas. It is also these areas that rely on agriculture as the primary way to make a living. It is women and children who are affected most directly by this unemployment and underemployment for a variety of social and political reasons.

But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can honor the women in our lives and make a greater impact by choosing Fair Trade. The Fair Trade certification ensures that, among other criteria, products are made an environmentally sustainable way, that the producers are paid a living wage, and that the cooperative is run democratically giving women a voice.

So when you are out picking up something special for the mother in your life choose Fair Trade! Scarves, jewelry, chocolate, household textiles, and even flowers are available. And as an extra bonus to this, many of the locally owned fair trade stores in Chicago are also owned and managed by women. Check them out here!

May 12^th is World Fair Trade Day and all over the global universities, businesses and cities will be celebrating the work that has already been done, and will get energized together for the work that still needs done. Here in Chicago we will be celebrating in many ways. We hope to see you at one, or all, of these events!

Greenfest - May 5 & 6^th

Hosted at Navy Pier, Chicago Fair Trade and many other businesses and organizations will gather to share ideas, products and stories of successes and next steps.

Taken from the Greenfest webpage: "Think of Green Festival® as a walk through a sustainable community. It begins with finding solutions to help make our lives healthier-socially, economically and environmentally. Individuals, business and community leaders come together to discuss critical issues that impact us at home and abroad. Organizations and businesses showcase programs and products that restore the planet and all that inhabit it. Neighbor-to-neighbor connections are formed and skills are shared to empower people to create positive change in the world.

Recharge your batteries with all the hope, inspiration and practical ideas you'll find at the one and only Green Festival."

World Fair Trade Day – May 9^th

Celebrate World Fair Trade day and Chicago’s achievement of "Fair Trade City" status that links Chicago to more than 1000 other fair trade cities across the globe. The event, co-sponsored by Chicago Fair Trade and City’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, will feature a global marketplace with 20 fair trade vendors selling products that protect the environment and pay producers a living wage, interactive activities and West African drum music. Details of Chicago’s new Fair Trade Tour will be announced.

Noon Program features remarks by Chief Sustainability Officer Karen Weigert and the South African Consulate.  Jerome McDonnell, host of WBEZ’s World View will emcee.  www.chicagofairtrade.org

For more information contact njones@chicagofairtrade.org or 312-212-1760

World Fair Trade Day (Wilmette) – May 12^th

The North Suburban Fair Trade Network, an affiliate of Chicago Fair Trade, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., will be presenting an educational forum on the benefits of fair trade. Nancy Jones, Executive Director of Chicago Fair Trade, will provide an overview of the power of fair trade and its positive effects on communities around the world.  Pushpika Freitas, the Founder and President of Marketplace: Handwork of India, will explain how her organization offers low-income women in India the experience of running a business, along with a variety of support programs that bring a lasting change to their lives.  Fair trade items such as jewelry, scarves, housewares and home décor from two local shops – Ten Thousand Villages of Evanston, and The Mustard Seed of Lake Forest - will be on display. Invite your friends! Come hear how buying fair trade products can help make the world a better place. Enjoy free Fair trade coffee and chocolate!  For more information, please contact Nancy Jones at 312-212-1760, Wilmette Public Library, 1242 Wilmette Ave., Wilmette, IL

What do rock stars do when they are done selling out concerts and rocking the stages? They start a coffee brand apparently. 

How else do we expect performers to keep their energy up for these four hour medley's and round the world tours? Of course it has to be coffee! Rob Zombie has picked out his desired whole bean coffee. Joey Kramer, the drummer for Aerosmith, started his own brand of coffee, promising the "a taste of the rock star life." Even Bob Marley has a coffee brand. This is the work of Rohan Marley, Bob's son, bringing into fruition one of Marley's dreams to 'return to farming one day.' 

Maybe you don't look in the mirror and see yourself as a rock star. No worries. There are almost as many celebrities creating coffee brands as well. In 2012 two more celebrities joined the growing list of concerned citizens moved to action. Many consumers know about Paul Newman's daughter joining up with Green Mountain to roast and sell coffee. Leonardo DiCaprio has partnered with La Colombe Torrefaction to produce high-end coffee. And Hugh Jackman started a coffee and tea under his Laughing Man Worldwide brand. 

The best part? They are ALL fair trade! That's right. So while you are jamming to Bob Marley & the Wailers or turning on that tear-jerking movie, you can connect more deeply by sipping a hot cup of Joe from your favorite artist. Because that is what fair trade can do, illuminate and strengthen relationships. 

Fair Trade Towns recently returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic; they traveled from end of March to the beginning of April. They took 12 volunteer organizers from cities across the United States. Chicago Fair Trade is happy to have had a representative from our Board of Directors and city join, Dana. Dana has served on the Board for Chicago Fair Trade since 2007. Along with 11 other delegates, Dana visited working cocoa, coffee and banana farms as well as a sweat-free apparel factory. She has our last posting here, connecting quality and Fair Trade.  

We have posted a few of the blogs from the first few days on the trip. You can read more from some of the other travelers on Fair Trade Towns' blog page. 

Dana Emanuel has served on the Board of Directors for Chicago Fair Trade since 2007, and recently returned from a Fair Trade Towns trip to visit Fair Trade producers in the Dominican Republic. Along with 11 other Fair Trade Towns delegates, Dana visited working cocoa, coffee and banana farms as well as a sweat-free apparel factory. She writes here about the link between quality and Fair Trade. You can read more on our blog here and at Fair Trade Towns. 

Ramona Iglesias slurps, swishes and spits her 130 degree coffee in a humid, warm room of the Fedecares coffee cooperative’s national offices in San Cristobal, Dominican Republic. Director of the Fedecares Coffee Lab, Ramona is an agronomist who received her college degree due to the education scholarship offered through her family’s membership in the Asoka Coffee Cooperative.

One of 40 Fedecares recipients of such educational scholarships funded by Fair Trade social premiums, Ramona gives us our own education on coffee during our Fair Trade Towns visit to the Coffee Lab. She teaches us about “cupping,” the process of determining attributes and qualities of different coffees.

Ramona demonstrating the coffee cupping and quality tasting process at the Fedecares Coffee Cooperative’s National Offices

Fair Trade guarantees many things for growers worldwide: a fair minimum price and social premiums, technical assistance, environmental protections, transparent cooperative structures, and no forced child labor. Consumers trust the Fair Trade label to uphold these standards, but there is one major attribute that is not included in Fair Trade certified products – quality.

Visiting Fair Trade cocoa and coffee cooperatives in the Dominican Republic clearly illustrates that that this is a myth; there are many inherent quality controls in the production of Fair Trade certified items, and consumers in the US who buy Fair Trade take home delicious, high quality coffee and chocolate that also empowers producers abroad.

Quality control is essential for any business to succeed, and Fair Trade products are no exception. The 7,500 small holder coffee farmers of Fedecares know this; they will not be able to sell their beans and sustain themselves if the quality of their beans are not the very best. Ramona at Fedecares knows this, too, and goes so far to request defective samples from rural farmers “to determine ways to improve” the quality of such beans. Indeed, every coffee sample from Fedecares is cupped by five different expert tasters within the organization before it is sent to the Dominican Coffee Council, a mandatory governmental tasting body for export coffee.

Hector Romero, founder of the Grupo Conacado, knows the importance of good quality, too. We learn about the precise steps Conacado takes to ensure the best quality cocoa is exported to international buyers. Beans are fermented in 3 separate marked boxes for 72 hours, then moved to huge greenhouses to dry. Updated worksheets hang on every fermenting box and in every drying room, indicating the particular quality and stages of the beans.

Romero discusses the fermenting boxes. Cocoa beans must ferment in three boxes for 72 hours to fully develop their deepest flavors and nuances.

Romero demonstrates a humidity monitor machine, which tests the drying cocoa beans to ensure they achieve a 7% internal humidity level. He shows us the guillotine, a simple mandolin-like apparatus that cuts into samples of drying cocoa beans to ensure that mold and pests are not problematic. No more than one out of 50 beans can be imperfect, Romero tells us, else the entire batch drying must be discarded.

Romero holds the “guillotine” apparatus, which tests the drying cocoa beans to ensure quality is up to par: Conacado discards entire batches of drying cocoa beans if there is any signs of mold or insects.

“Farmers are conscious of the reality,” says Romero. He explains that Conacado’s 10,000 cocoa farmers know that the quality of their beans directly impacts the amount they can sell, and grow and harvest their beans with this core value. Beans not meeting Conacado’s quality standards are not sold to Fair Trade cocoa buyers; there is a clearly-marked separate drying facility for these non-Fair Trade beans.

Fair Trade farmers and cooperatives in the Dominican Republic monitor and improve the quality of their products at every step of the growing, harvesting, drying and production process. Savvy and intuitive, these farmers know that they must offer the best quality products possible to sell their products and bring in repeat business.

Fair Trade certification guarantees that producers receive economic and social benefits for their products. But consumers can also confidently buy Fair Trade products for the high quality of the products in and of themselves. Just look to Ramona at Fedecares for this vote of confidence: despite cupping between 10-35 samples of coffee per day for her job at Fedecares, she loves the taste of Fedecares coffee so much that she indulges in an additional 8 full cups of the coffee a day.

As we arrive in the community of Villa Altagracia, we make our way to the free trade zone (zona franca) where will visit the apparel factory of Alta Gracia. Alta Gracia, a brand of Knight’s Apparel, produces collegiate clothing sold in university bookstores. The project focuses on unionized labor and mutual respect between the company and its employees, paying a living wage.

The factory where Alta Gracia is currently located is in a free trade zone. The building was once home to a Korean-based company which produced baseball hats and employed approximately 3000 people. A group of workers at the former factory contacted the Worker’s Rights Consortium (WRC) and United Students Against Sweatshops to create a coalition in order to pressure the company for better wages. They achieved the first bargaining agreement in a Dominican free trade zone. The process of creating the coalition and achieving the bargaining agreement was a great feat and learning experience for the employees; however because of competition with other factories, the company began to lay off workers. Eventually, the plant was shut down in 2007 as the production shifted overseas.

When the facilities shut down, five women sought help and started to build a movement with support from the Worker’s Rights Consortium. The WRC worked with Knight’s Apparel, to initiate the Alta Gracia project. In order to establish a living wage, in contrast to the country’s legal minimum wage in a free trade zone, they conducted studies of the wages necessary for a worker to support a family of five. The group established a wage that was three times higher than the minimum. Knight’s Apparel engaged in open discussions with the workers and collective bargaining rights were respected throughout the process. The Alta Gracia factory opened in the existing free trade zone in April 2010. Currently, Alta Gracia has 135 employees and the monthly wage is approximately RD$20,800/month ($548USD), compared to the legal minimum wage of approximately RD$5900/month ($155USD) and the wages are evaluated every October. The factory completes the sewing, tagging and application of the certification emblem for the clothing.

Workers from the apparel factory shared with us the dramatic positive impact that Alta Gracia has brought to their lives.

We had the opportunity to hear stories from Alta Gracia employees describing how working at the factory has positively transformed their lives. Ricardo shared, “I used to work at an electric company. I had to cut power to those who did not pay their bills. I made 7000 pesos (approx. $185USD) per month. I applied to Alta Gracia since I had worked in some free trade zones as a machine operator.” Clari said, “This is a dream. I am able to buy my kids uniforms and pay for health insurance.” Alberto shared, “I have a lot of experience in textiles. I had worked in another free trade zone and heard I could make four times more. Everybody thought it wasn’t true.” Carlotta said, “I used to work at a bakery. I now make more in a week than I used to make in a month. I have bought an acre of land to build a house.” All of the employees shared that they have a much better life working at Alta Gracia.

It was very uplifting to hear how working on this project has impacted the lives of the employees. Being members of a union, they are able to bargain collectively and are respected in their workplace. In Spanish, the term for “living wage” is “salario digno”, and the wages received at Alta Gracia are just that – a dignified salary.

In March, Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on a 7 day learning tour of Fair Trade farms in Dominican Republic  where they built the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful.  This is the second time that Fair Trade Towns USA has collaborated with Global Exchange to offer town organizers the opportunity to learn about the workings and impact of Fair Trade first-hand.

Travelers came from town and city campaigns all over the country to see the effects of their hard work visiting cocoa, coffee and banana farms as well as a sweat-free apparel factory.  This series will chronicle our trip through the eyes of a different organizer each day.

Here are the cacao seeds after being removed from the pod and "corazon". They are still covered in thick mucilage which decomposes during the fermentation step.

What a wonderful opportunity to learn about exactly how much goes into the chocolate we eat every day!   The beans are removed from the cacao pods and the “corazon”, or heart membrane of the cacao, by the farmer and brought to the processing area as a seed.  Once there, the quality control is very regulated.  First classified by size, damage, or sickness, the highest quality and low quality beans are separated throughout the process.  The larger beans tend to be the higher quality. Low quality beans are set aside to be used for body care or other products, but not intended for eating chocolate. Sanchez Organic is the classification for lower quality, Hispaniola for higher quality. This internal quality control is what leads to the Fair Trade chocolate bar in your local grocery store being so delicious.

The separate qualities of cacao beans are then fermented in three stages in hermetically sealed boxes. While this process really does smell pretty bad, as our host Hector Romero said, it is essential to giving chocolate the flavor, color and smell that we enjoy so much. It is a five day process just to take the bean from the seed to the drying stage! When the steaming beans do emerge from the final box, they are laid out to dry, a process that could often be sidetracked by rain, but CONACADO has covered drying structures, much like greenhouses, to dry beans in any type of weather. The drying must continue until the beans reach 7% humidity as that is the international standard, but it starts at 70% after the fermentation process. They then “guillotine” the beans to make sure the insides are not affected by mold or disease. Less than 1% imperfections are allowed so the beans are checked continually for quality. Once they are dry, they are packaged and sorted into the warehouse areas classified by quality, or location where grown. When the day is too rainy, there is an artificial dryer, but in the interest of also protecting the environment, this method is reserved only for the rainy season. It requires firewood, because oil or any other method cannot be used since it is not organic material, but as part of the Fair Trade process, protecting the environment is also important so CONACADO tries to avoid using firewood when possible.

The artificial drying process would hold 5 tons, and the temperature higher than 45 degrees Celsius. Once dry, they go through a funnel to clean/classify out the unwanted stuff which is composted. A person then sorts through the larger “waste” to be sure no beans go through. Whether artificial or not, once dried, the cacao beans are loaded into bags that weigh about 70 kgs and shipped to the port which takes about 45 minutes. The low quality beans are kept separated and could be sold to anyone for use in any number of products.

The whole process is labor intensive and during the official harvest season of April-June, they could have over 200 people working on just this process. In the meantime, they are visited regularly by Fair Trade certifiers from FLO who stay for 15 days, seeing farms, sampling the cacao, and verifying the entire process maintains Fair Trade standards. The cacao not exported may be sent to a variety of places, one of which is the Asociacion de las Mujeres.

The CONACADO processing plant experience was only the culmination of a two day experience with the cacao farmers of the CONACADO association and what a two days it was. The days were an amazingly real Dominican experience that so few visitors to this country get to see. Waking up without an alarm clock, with no set schedule and a cacophony of roosters – what a way to start a day!  The rest of the day would be spent with the welcoming and smiling families of the association that were happy to help us explore their farms and taste their hard work as expressed through beautiful fruits and delicious vegetables.

The whole experience is truly eye-opening to those of us whose whole experience with chocolate previously consisted of choosing from a variety on a shelf, proceeding to a cash register, and then unwrapping it to eat. So many hands must come into contact with this one product just so that we can have a few moments of enjoyment. While this fact could seem discouraging, it was pivotal to understand that the farmers and workers were so proud of all that work that it can only help us to enjoy it even more.

The experience at the processing and fermentation process was equally impactful as it completed the picture of thesource country’s work in creating chocolate. The details of the process, though, fade in comparison to the passion and love of the people who achieve them. Many of us will forget the levels of humidity necessary to export cacao beans, but no one could forget learning to dance bachata with our host families, tasting fresh limones from the tree on the road to the river, seeing the pride on women’s faces as they explain how they take mere beans and make a delicious treat, or laughing while playing El Escondido (hide and seek) with our family’s children.

As supporters of Fair Trade we must recognize the actual work, but we must also remember to see not just a label but also the people who make the label possible. Their passion must infuse ours and our work must support theirs. CONACADO, therefore, was not just a lesson in chocolate but in humanity and how we are all connected no matter our country or language through the products we use and the enthusiasm we have to protect our people and our planet. Thank you CONACADO  for welcoming us to the Dominican Republic in such a beautiful way and for reminding us why we do what we do!

Series Intro:  Fair Trade Towns USA sent 12 volunteer organizers on an immersion trip to the Dominican Republic March 28th through April 4th, where they built the people-to-people ties that make working for Fair Trade so meaningful. This series will chronicle our trip through the eyes of a different organizer each day.

This blog post comes to us from Ivy Kim of Fair Trade Berkeley. Article was originally posted here. 

“The keys to success are Fair Trade and organization.” ~Hector Romero

Waking up in the morning was disorienting to say the least. Greeted with an unfamiliar smell, with an unfamiliar noise, in unfamiliar bed sheets, I was reminded that I was in the Dominican Republic—the Dominican Republic! For the first time in a very long time, I saw no need for the snooze button; my eagerness to not only learn about Fair Trade, but also start a new day in such a beautiful country triumphed over the lure of the hotel bed.

After a plate full of empanadas, fries, and scrambled eggs at a nearby restaurant conveniently located facing the clear blue Dominican ocean, we headed to the headquarters of CONACADO, a Fair Trade cocoa cooperative in Hato Mayor. On our way to the cooperative, I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth roads of the Dominican Republic.

Front of CONACADO headquarters

Once we arrived at the CONACADO headquarters, I was overwhelmed by its presence, not because of its size, but because my roommate had just purchased cocoa powder from Trader Joe’s that was made with beans from CONACADO just days before my arrival to the DR. It felt as if I had come full circle—not only did I experience CONACADO through the lens of a consumer, but I was also minutes away from experiencing it through the lens of many hard-working and dedicated producers.

Hector Romero (who goes by Romero), the tour coordinator for CONACADO, greeted us with his warm smile and hearty handshake. Somewhat resembling President Obama, Romero made us feel as if we were family. He led us into a room, where we were served locally-crafted hot chocolate made with ginger, sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, and water (fun fact: adding milk to hot chocolate takes away some of the nutritional values of cocoa). As we were sipping on and savoring the best cup of hot chocolate I have ever had, Romero told us about the changes that Fair Trade had brought to the lives of CONACADO farmers.

Half of the group plus Romero in front of a playground donated by Ben & Jerry’s

According to Romero, not only has Fair Trade achieved a broad, yet crucial goal of freeing farmers from exploitative market intermediaries, but it has helped cocoa farmers in countless concrete ways as well. For example, with the money from Fair Trade, the organization was able to better the lives of its farmers by providing them with cheaper purified water, electricity, plumbing, education for their kids, ecologically-sound farming practices, health, roads, and more. In addition, Fair Trade helped to create “conscious farmers of reality,” meaning the farmers are now educated about the international cocoa market, empowering them to demand fair prices for their products. To quote Romero, “The keys to success are Fair Trade and organization.”

To experience the effects of Fair Trade first hand was inexplicable. It is easy to learn about them through books and documentaries, but to breathe in its impacts was truly an honor. Living in a world where globalization now symbolizes oppression rather than unity, I have developed a critical eye for many social causes and their movements. However, something intrinsic in me always had faith in Fair Trade, and Romero’s stories, lessons, gentility and humor reinforced my confidence in Fair Trade.