A Coffee Love Story & 14% off Madeline Burdine Jewelry until Valentine’s Day
Hand-made heart using bone from White Oak Pastures.
Madeline Burdine loves Café Campesino. And we love Madeline Burdine. She’s not only one of the best jewelry makers in Atlanta (and potentially the world), she also met her fiancé in our sweet little Sweet Auburn coffeeshop.
The two of them consummated their love (for us) when they made the scenic rural drive southward to visit our roastery and our fair town (Americus) a few months ago. We raise our mugs to Madeline Burdine and her fiancée, Bob Smiles (think Field of Greens) and to finding true love in a coffee shop.
Madeline & Bob on their Americus visit- at Bill Harris' blueberry farm!
AND, we extend to all-a-y’all Madeline’s discount on her exceptional “grass-fed,” earth-inspired, hand-made jewelry that incorporates recycled silver, reclaimed copper, and bones from South Georgia’s own White Oak Pasture cows. Visit her Esty shop and get a 14% discount until Feb. 15th. Use coupon code: CAFECAMPESINO at check out.
White Oak Leaf
Little Brown Bird
Fair Trade Coffee & Conflict-Free Electronics?
By: Kirk Lyman-Barner
Special Guest Contributer
I’m a big fan of a good cup of coffee. And since moving to Americus, a “good” cup of coffee has come to mean more than just the way it smells as it begins brewing at 6:30 in the morning, more than the way it tastes or the revival it provides on a long afternoon. The folks at Café Campesino and Cooperative Coffees are good friends of mine and they’ve taken great care to educate me about what goes into that little one-pound bag of coffee I buy each week without even batting an eye. I now know exactly what goes into that bag of beans – and the role fair trade plays in it. Small farmers who were once exploited by large multi-national corporations have, through fair trade organizations, the capacity to produce coffee at a legitimate profit for themselves and their families. That is what makes a cup of coffee “good.”
I recently traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo where I learned of another form of labor exploitation and I immediately saw the connection between folks like the coffee farmers and the suffering Congolese. So grab a cup of some “good” coffee and let me tell you about it. Read more…
Fair Trade Certified Makin’ the News
The politics of Fair Trade certification have hit the news. Have you been keeping up? A few links that are worth checking out: Dan Jaffee and Philip Howard’s “Visualizing Fair Trade” project (not a news article but very timely graphs that compare companies’ commitments to sourcing Fair Trade Certified coffee). Other full-length articles addressing the Fair Trade Certified debate have recently appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones and Grist. National Public Radio covered the story both on radio and on their food blog, The Salt. Read up. Let us know your thoughts. Read our Nov. 18 post or the statement from our co-op (Cooperative Coffees) to know ours!
SOA Watch: Why We’re Committed
SOA Watch: Why We’re Committed
By: Bill Harris
In 1998, Cafe Campesino began as a small trading company grounded in a simple concept: by trading in an open, honest, respectful manner with economically disadvantaged farmers, we could in some small way make the world a better place. Cafe Campesino wanted to challenge traditional win-lose business models and instead help to create and guide a win-win international model for trade. Trade based on mutual respect, transparency, fair and honest practices with a desire to build friendships in coffee growing communities all over the world. A simple but somewhat revolutionary concept. This kind of thinking led us to surprising places – one of them being only 60 miles from our headquarters. As we learned more about why coffee farmers in Latin America were so poor, we learned about land rights and human rights abuses, the civil wars that ravaged Central America in recent decades, and atrocities committed by the military time and time again against peasant farmers in these countries where we buy coffee. And this led us to the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus Georgia. We do not attend the SOA Watch vigil and memorial service every year simply to protest – we attend to support an effort by tens of thousands of priests, nuns, students, and victims to close a small school that is housed within the grounds of Ft. Benning, supported by U.S. tax dollars, and used to train Latin American soldiers over whom we have no control once they leave US soil. Formerly called the School of the Americas, it is now called WHINSEC. While the school clearly taught torture techniques in the past, school officials say they have cleaned up the curriculum and that they now offer human rights courses alongside their counter-terrorism training. We want to see this school closed. Maybe the school has cleaned up its act; maybe at this point closure would only be a symbolic gesture. But symbolism carries tremendous weight – especially with the families of the thousands of innocent victims of this school’s graduates. Our country stands as a beacon of hope for so many from Latin America and beyond. We have asked hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens for sacrifices in the name of fighting terrorism, yet we continue to train foreign soldiers in dubious tactics that have directly led to the terrorism of villages and farming families. Why keep this school open? US taxpayers supporting a school that trains foreign fighters and have been directly connected to thousands of murdered victims in Latin America. . . It makes no sense. We have stood at the gates in support of the effort to close this school for 11 years, serving coffee to the masses, and we will continue to do so until it is closed.
Fair Trade: Where We Are
Cafe Campesino & Sweetwater Organic Coffee believe in Fair, Direct, Transparent trade relationships. We believe in cooperatives. (We are members of one.) We believe in a principled approach to Fair Trade, not a diluted version. We stand in solidtarity with the following organizations that have recently denounced Fair Trade USA/Transfair USA’s decision to depart from the existing Fair Trade system: Red Cafe – CLAC, Fair Trade Network of Asian Producers, Fair Trade Africa, Just Coffee, Higher Grounds Trading Co., United Students for Fair Trade, Fair World Project and Equal Exchange. (Read more about Latin American producers’ position on FTUSA’s move).
Where do we go from here?
-Keep Farmers first. This is an opportunity to re-focus Fair Trade back on the farmers- not the certification discussion or the consumer. This is an opportunity for farmers to get more out of the Fair Trade system and an opportunity for importers and roasters to challenge farmer organizations to start setting their own terms of trade. Fair Trade is meant to serve farmers.
- Continue working. We would rather spend time practicing Fair Trade principles and improving our system than talking about certification.
-Keep a watchful eye. Five years ago, Cafe Campesino withdrew as a Transfair USA licensee (we decided not to use the Transfair sticker), because we did not believe that it was okay to let companies who source only a small amount of Fair Trade products to present themselves as “Fair Trade Certified.” This summer, we joined 10,000 others in signing the Organic Consumers Association’s petition to stop Transfair USA from trademarking the term “Fair Trade USA.” Now, we’re speaking out against Fair Trade USA’s efforts to certify plantations, and we’re wondering what’s coming next.
-Remain Transparent. Along with more than 20 other roasters who are members of Cooperative Coffees, we are posting all of our purchasing contracts at the website, Fair Trade Proof. Find contracts for Cafe Campesino and Sweetwater Organic Coffee on that site, or email us with your questions, info@cafecampesino.com
Interview with: Florent Gout of Cooperative Coffees
Florent Gout during his Sept. 2011 trip to Americus
In an effort to better explain and understand Cooperative Coffees, our importing cooperative of 24 roasters in the U.S. and Canada, I’ve decided to do a series of interviews with Cooperative Coffees’ staff. What can Cooperative Coffees’ staff tell me and customers about why the way we source coffee is so unique? And who are all of these interesting people who work in two separate offices- one in Americus and one in Montreal? First interview? Florent Gout, Cooperative Coffees’ coffee buyer. It’s timely, too, as Florent left Cooperative Coffees’ Montreal office on Nov. 4 to work from home- France (deep sigh). Below are excerpts from my interview with Florent during his September 2011 visit to Americus.
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Name: Florent Gout
Job: Coffee Buyer
Current Office: Paris, France
What do you do at Cooperative Coffees?
Buy coffee. Basically, I try to be a bridge between the roasters and the trading partners. My main role is to buy the coffee that we need, which includes a lot of math, but I also work to maintain the relationship between both the roasters and the producer cooperatives to make sure that information flows back and forth. For example, when there is a specific demand from a producer group for us to change the buying price of their coffee, or if they want us to bring in a transitional coffee, I’m going to receive this request and forward it in a very efficient way to the roasters. I try to create a discussion that will get a response back to the farmer co-ops as quickly as possible.
Read more…
Tragic Producer Partner Loss in Colombia
Luis Carlos Mestizo, a visionary community leader and president of the Fondo Paez board of directors, was murdered on Monday in Santander, Colombia.
Cafe Campesino was saddened to learn that Luis Carlos Mestizo Condo, the president of the Fondo Paez cooperative in Colombia, was robbed and murdered on Monday. Apparently, Mr. Mestizo was was shot and killed while in Santander, the town at the base of the mountain where the coop’s members live and farm their coffee, where he was in the process of buying some equipment for the coop. This is a stark, harsh reminder of the reality in which our trading partners live. We are waiting to hear how we might honor Luis Carlos and our good friends at Fondo Paez in the aftermath of this tragedy. We will keep you posted on developments.
Below is a Spanish-language news piece about the incident.
Cauca: El trabajo con la comunidad no se borra con las balas
Informamos a la opinión pública, que el día 12 de septiembre de 2011, en horas de la mañana, fue asesinado el señor Luis Carlos Mestizo Conda en el casco urbano del municipio de Santander de Quilichao. Estos hechos sucedieron entre las 9 y 9:30 am, cuando Luis Carlos salió del Banco Bancolombia, se dirigía a hacer diligencias para comprar unas maquinas de fique para los asociados del Fondo Paez.
Santander de Quilichao, es un municipio que ha sido azotado por los paramilitares y la guerrilla, la policía que hace presencia en esta localidad no es efectiva en estos casos como los ocurridos en el día de hoy. Todo esto ocurrió a plena luz del día, los asesinos iban en moto y sin casco, las personas testigos no pudieron hacer nada porque los hombres iban armados.
Los que estuvieron presentes en los hechos nos contaron lo siguiente: “…yo me encontré con Luis Carlos en el almacén Agromáquinas, yo entré al almacén mientras Luis Carlos se quedó afuera hablando con las personas que iban por las máquinas de fique, cuando de pronto mire hacia afuera y le estaban forcejando el bolso, el tipo que lo estaba asaltando tenía un revolver y le estaba apuntando, yo me devolví a buscar un objeto para defenderlo pero escuche los disparos y salí a ver y los asesinos se fueron en una moto, Luis Carlos estaba en el suelo con tres tiros y sin su bolso…”.
Luis Carlos Mestizo Conda, llevaba un año y medio como presidente de la Asociación Kwesx Uma Kiwe Peykajn Mjinxisax Fondo Paez en el norte del Cauca (Trabajar y Proteger la Madre Tierra), y seis años en la directiva de esta asociación. El Fondo Paez lleva más de 15 años de creación y jurídicamente se constituyó en el 2005. Actualmente hay 800 familias asociadas de los Resguardos Indígenas de Jambaló, Munchique Los Tigres, Caldono y Corinto. Esta Asociación tiene como eslogan “Recuperando el pensamiento de la agricultura”, trabajan en la producción orgánica del café y producción de comida.
El trabajo que hizo Luis Carlos Mestizo en el Fondo Paez fue ejemplar, la comunidad de Jambaló y todos sus conocidos se encuentran consternados por su asesinato. Lo recuerdan como una persona muy trabajadora y responsable con su comunidad. Luis Carlos era conocido por la gran labor que hizo en el Cabildo de Jambaló, impulsó el fortalecimiento del Proyecto Global – Plan de Vida de esta comunidad. Trabajó en la comisión jurídica, en el programa agroambiental, hizo parte de la Escuela de Derecho Propio “Cristóbal Secue” de la zona norte del Cauca y también hizo parte de la directiva del Cabildo de Jambaló.
Seguimos denunciando los atropellos que comenten contra nuestra gente que trabaja por la comunidad del norte del Cauca. Luis Carlos Mestizo luchó siempre con humildad, sencillez, sabiduría y responsabilidad por el Plan de Vida de todos.
En estos momentos se sigue investigando por parte de las autoridades propias estos hechos ocurridos en el día de hoy.
Names of Cafe Campesino’s Favorite Canines
From left to right (top): Jack, Bill Harris’ dog; Nina, Rebecca Young’s dog; Samson, Tripp Pomeroy’s new pup; Lulu, Nancy Aparicio’s dog; Buddy, Paul of Servpro’s dog; Joleen, Nema’s dog.
An interview about Nicaragua with: Janet Utecht
Janet Utecht, executive director of Cooperative Coffees (center), with producers and Joe Lozano from Third Coast (left) in Nicaragua, July 2011.
Janet Utecht recently traveled to Nicaragua for Cooperative Coffees as a part of a United States Agency for International Development project that brings technical assistance and business training to coffee producers around the world. She was joined by Joe Lozano of Third Coast Coffee, a roaster member. Read more…