About Equal Exchange

By Amy Wisehart, Equal Exchange

In recent years more and more communities of faith in the U.S. have been taking action to help small farmers and communities that are caught in a vicious cycle of debt and poverty. As they gather for fellowship hour, these congregations are sharing a cup of justice: fairly traded coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate. These products come from Equal Exchange, a worker-owned Fair Trade organization founded in 1986 to create a different model of trade with small-scale farmers.

By working directly with small farmer cooperatives, Equal Exchange cuts out middlemen, ensuring that more money reaches those who do the hard work of growing coffee, cocoa and tea. By offering affordable credit and providing a long-term trading partner, Equal Exchange offers stability in an unstable market.

Perhaps most important, given fluctuating market prices, Equal Exchange pays farmers a fair price, including a guaranteed minimum of $1.26 U.S. per pound for conventional coffee and $1.41 for organic coffee. Because the organization is committed to Fair Trade on 100 percent of its products, Equal Exchange paid over $500,000 to small farmers in above-market premiums in 2005 alone—income that the farmers would not have received otherwise. Equal Exchange also facilitated $1.7 million in advance credit to small farmer cooperatives in 2005, providing much-needed cash flow and income stability to struggling farmers in many countries around the world.

Since 1997, Equal Exchange and Lutheran World Relief have partnered in the LWR Coffee Project, an initiative encouraging Lutheran parishes to learn about and use fairly traded coffee. Following on the success of this project, similar partnerships have been launched with the other organizations, and more than 14,000 places of worship, retreat centers, and schools have participated in Equal Exchange's Interfaith Program. Participating congregations serve "Fellowship Blend" at coffee hour, offer packaged coffee, tea, cocoa and chocolate at holiday bazaars, and form buying clubs to purchase for home use.

Together, these communities purchased over 416 tons of fairly traded products in 2005, making an enormous difference in the lives of small farmers.

In 2003, Equal Exchange and the Mennonite Central Committee U.S. initiated the "MCC U.S. Coffee Project," inviting Mennonite and Brethren in Christ congregations to get more involved in Fair Trade. This initiative, co-sponsored by Ten Thousand Villages and Mennonite Mutual Aid, seeks to build on the involvement of these congregations in Fair Trade through education and outreach initiatives, and delegations to coffee growing regions. In 2005, Mennonites and Brethren in Christ purchased 6.6 tons of fairly traded products through the MCC U.S. Coffee Project.

As communities of faith we are called to do justice in our daily lives. In an increasingly globalized world, this can feel like a challenge. One simple way to reach out to communities in need is with the cup of coffee that we hold in our hands.

For more information about Equal Exchange, visit equalexchange.org.