We have this strong sense of co-op solidarity not only because we think it is essential to the vitality of the co-operative movement, but also because it is by supporting other cooperatives that we can best serve society at large, in both the global North and South.
In the last edition of the ICA-Americas Newsletter, Juan Somavia, Director General of the International Labor Organization (ILO), was quoted as saying at the 2003 ICA General Assembly “Would it be a dream to think that in the future every cooperative of developed countries would have a partnership with a developing world cooperative?”
Equal Exchange, a worker co-op founded in the United States in 1986, gives us an idea of what that dream could look like. That is because in those 23 years we have been partnering almost exclusively with farmer cooperatives in developing countries and today import approximately $10,000,000 worth of agricultural products annually from around 40 farmer cooperatives in Africa, Asia, and especially Latin America.
In fact, you cannot really understand Equal Exchange without first knowing about our strong commitment to 6th Co-operative Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives
We have this strong sense of co-op solidarity not only because we think it is essential to the vitality of the co-operative movement, but also because it is by supporting other cooperatives that we can best serve society at large, in both the global North and South.
So who is Equal Exchange? What do we do? And why the emphasis on strong co-op ties?
Equal Exchange was founded by three men in Boston, Massachusetts, Rink Dickinson, Jonathan Rosenthal, and Michael Rozyne, who were already working together at a cooperative food distributor but who believed that the system for growing, processing, trading and marketing food was badly in need of reform.
Equal Exchange is primarily a food importer, manufacturer and wholesaler of high quality Fair Trade foods and beverages, of which about 90% are certified organic. Today Equal Exchange sources 99% of their coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, bananas and nuts from 40 small-farmer cooperatives in 23 countries, including the U.S. Approximately 80% of this volume is sourced from roughly 30 Latin American farmer co-ops stretching from Paraguay to Mexico.
We also work with US farmers for our fairly traded almonds, pecans and cranberries. In the US market we are best known for our pioneering role in bringing Fair Trade foods – starting with coffee – to US grocery stores, and for being a out-spoken proponent of the Fair Trade model. With $35,000,000 in annual sales, 110 employees, and 92 worker-owners Equal Exchange is one of the largest worker cooperatives in the United States and, we think, the largest worker co-op coffee roaster in the world.
By paying above-market Fair Trade prices, providing affordable credit, by working with the same co-ops year after year, and by maintaining very close ties that include regular visits – Equal Exchange has built up a strong supplier network that has proved extremely loyal and dependable.
Equal Exchange not only makes a point to source from small-farmer co-operatives whenever possible but has actively encouraged their competitors in the multi-billion dollar coffee, tea and banana industries to do likewise. They do this for many reasons but primarily because they believe that the cooperative model has demonstrated great potential to address the pervasive inequality in wealth, power and opportunity that is so common in rural areas in developing countries. After two decades of working with co-op suppliers Equal Exchange – and countless researchers – have observed how cooperatives enable small-scale farmers who previously were caught in a poverty trap (ie too poor and isolated to do much to change their circumstances) to begin to work their way up the value chain, increase and stabilize their incomes, and use their cooperative to collectively tackle many needs in their communities, like health or education.
One of Equal Exchange’s proudest accomplishments has been to help demonstrate to the North American coffee market that small-scale coffee farmer co-operatives in Latin America could be reliable exporters of high grade coffee. In 1990 that was a radical idea, but now many top-notch coffee roasters boast of their ties with farmer co-ops. Today Equal Exchange is hoping to replicate this feat in the tea and banana industries.
Lastly, Equal Exchange sits at both ends of the table because they, too, are a co-op vendor. In fact, they might not exist today had not the nation’s food co-ops provided the first market for Equal Exchange’s products. Even today food co-ops represent approximately 20% of Equal Exchange sales and have consistently been among the first retailers to stock new items from the worker co-op, like their snacks (sourced, of course, from California and Georgia farmer co-ops.)
Their co-op centric model for promoting the greater good has not only won them the lasting loyalty of their many co-op vendors and customers, but also awards from other corners, such as Fast Company magazine and the Financial Times newspaper.
Equal Exchange sources 99% of their coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar, bananas and nuts from 40 small-farmer cooperatives in 23 countries
Approximately 80% of this volume is sourced from roughly 30 Latin American farmer co-ops
$35,000,000 in annual sales
110 employees
92 worker-owners
Donating policy: 7% of net profits to organizations promoting the co-op model and Fair Trade
It invests 3% of net profits in to new start-up worker cooperatives
