April 2011

In this issue

• Fair Trading in Guatemala
• Newsletter Special - 10% off Guatemala from Chajul
• Get involved and "Challenge" yourself
• Producer Profile - Chajul (Guatemala)
• Fun Facts / Coffee Notes
• Community Caravan
• Quotes of the Month

Welcome.  Hope you have found the spring in your step already this fine season.  Southwest Georgia is gorgeous right now.  Budding flowers and beautiful sunshine (we won't mention all the pollen flying around!).  Great coffee drinkin' weather, wouldn't you say?  Well, we have just the ticket for that - 10% off roasted coffee from Guatemala (see below).  In a totally related note, our trading partners at Asociación Chajulense in Guatemala recently hosted three members of our Cafe Campesino Americus team as well as Tina from Sweetwater along with several fellow Coop Coffees members and a couple of distinguished guests.  All reports are that it was a fabulous trip.  Pictures and notes from this venture included in this newsletter.  And more to see at www.fairtradewire.com.  Check back to that site periodically for updates on all things fair trade coffee!
In the meantime, here's the first of many excellent photos from the trip.

Fair Trading in Guatemala

Farmer-Owned Cooperatives are the foundation of Fair Trade… and for good reason.
April 4, 2011
Tripp Pomeroy

Greetings from Americus! We have just completed an 8-day journey to Guatemala where we visited one of the first cooperatives we ever bought coffee from – APECAFORM/Manos Campesinas, met with a new trading partner – CCDA - and then wrapped up with a visit to our other long-standing trading partners at La Chajulense. On the balance, the news is good, as more money is getting back to the farmers and the coops with which we work have proven themselves to be extremely effective in the face of unusual volatility in the coffee market. The tough news is that yields in Western Guatemala this year were very low, though next year is looking to be considerably better. On the Fair Trade front, the good news is that our direct trading relationships seem to be stronger than ever and reciprocally so (to be explained below).

A quick note on the current coffee market volatility. Coffee prices on the New York C (NYC) on which all coffee contracts are based (we pay based on the NYC plus organic and Fair Trade premiums plus a differential that is based on quality, the needs/costs of our trading partners, and other variables) have reached 14-year highs during the past several months. On top of the high market prices, it has become increasingly common for narco-traffickers to launder their revenues through local coffee markets. High NYC prices and the additional cash provided by money laundering have presented a number of challenges for our trading partner coops, the most significant of which has been the temptation for coop members to sell some or all of their coffee to coyotes (local middle men) rather than deliver it to the coop. In turn, if the coop can’t get its members’ coffee, it can’t fulfill its commitment to its buyers like us at Café Campesino and Sweetwater, who buy our coffee via our membership in Cooperative Coffees.

Fortunately, what we learned in Guatemala is that the cooperatives we work with – APECAFORM/Manos Campesinas and La Chajulense – have done a phenomenal job managing their coops through the current volatility. Specifically, they have developed and implemented extremely savvy strategies to beat the coyotes at their own game, while also offering all the added benefits that a coop has to offer its members. By increasing prices, communicating with their members, and managing their liquidity strategically (by leveraging the pre-financing that they have access to via their Fair Trade relationships with organizations like ours), our trading partners have been able to outmaneuver the coyotes and not only bring in the coffee they need to fulfill their contracts with buyers but also pay their members very good prices for their coffee.

Read the rest of this article (and more) at www.fairtradewire.com
 

Newsletter Special - 10% off Guatemala from Chajul

Pronounced "cha-HOOL", this group of farming communities in southwest central Guatemala is producing crop after crop of fantastic organic coffee.  We are pleased to offer this coffee to you at 10% off regular retail pricing.  All 1 pound, 2 pound, and 5 pound bags of Guatemala Full City Roast will receive a 10% discount when you apply coupon code chajul at online checkout or when you mention the newsletter special if you prefer to call in your order (1-888-532-4728).  Shop now

*Please note this offer applies to retail online orders only and cannot be combined with any other discounts.  Offer good through April 25th.

Get involved and "Challenge" yourself

Want to do something in honor of Earth Day this year? How about getting off of plastics for a week? GreenPlate, a non-profit committed to the reduction of single-use plastics (that was started by our dear friend Polly Sattler) is launching a 7-Day Plastic Challenge on April 18th to help raise awareness about the environmental and health issues related to single-use plastic. Plastics are not biodegradable, so once they are produced, they are here to stay. Plus, over time, they begin to leach harmful toxins and break into smaller pieces that are ingested by marine life and all other animals along the food chain (including …ahem….yours truly).

Even though the negative environmental impacts of plastics are widely known, their use continues to grow. In 2001, the ratio of plastic to plankton in the North Pacific Ocean was 6:1; seven years later the ratio grew to 28:1. Single-use plastics are fast becoming an epidemic for the environment and that’s why Polly co-founded GreenPlate and is launching this 7-Day challenge.

“We know this plastic epidemic is not going to go away overnight. But we do know that every person can help make a difference,” says Polly. So, how can you make a difference? Try the 7-day Challenge below:

Day1: Don’t take that straw!
Day 2: Drinks on the go- Instead of a drink in a plastic bottle, choose an aluminum can, glass bottle or a refillable water bottle,.
Day 3: When it comes to the bag, just say no!- Don’t use the plastic bags! At the grocery story, at the dry cleaners- Just say no!
Day 4: Change your “to-go” routine- Ask what your choices of to-go containers are before you get take-out at a restaurant. ALWAYS go Styrofoam-free and avoid plastic cutlery.
Day 5: At the supermarket- Be mindful of packaging. Try to shop on the outside edge of the store where there tends to be less packaging and healthier foods.
Day 6: What’s in your house- Pay attention to what’s in your house. Don’t buy disposables when you don’t have to.
Day 7: Reduce, Reuse, and RECYCLE- Take this day to learn how you can be more responsible with your waste and SPREAD THE WORD!

Learn more about GreenPlate, what plastics are doing to our environment and Polly Sattler’s great work at: www.greenplate.org  Thank you Polly!

Producer Profile - Chajul (Guatemala)

At this point in the newsletter, you have likely "heard" that Café Campesino was recently in Guatemala meeting with the APECAFORM and Chajul coffee farmer cooperatives. Café Campesino and Sweetwater joined four other roaster-members from Cooperative Coffees on the trip, representing 12 North American travelers, four of whom were Cooperative Coffees board members. Learn more about the Chajul cooperative below and through the pictures taken by Tina Adkins, our rockin’ Sweetwater Sales, Production and Marketing Manager, who traveled to Guatemala for the first time.

The Asociación Chajulense Va’l Vaq Qujol was founded in 1988 by some 40 coffee farmers of the Chajul area of Triángulo Ixil, Quiché. The organization obtained its formal, legal status in 1990. At present, the organization has around 1,500 active members, most of whom are coffee farmers. The group's main goal is to “promote a sustainable development model that is environmentally sound, economically feasible, fair from a social point of view and appropriate from a cultural standpoint”. The organization is working in more than 50 communities of the Chajul, Nebaj, Cotzal and Chiantla areas.

Read more about this group here.

Buy coffee grown by this group here. (and save 10% when you use coupon code chajul at checkout)

And check out the colorful photo below of Chajulense women sorting coffee in their traditional work attire.

Fun Facts / Coffee Notes

Did you know?
One mature Arabica coffee plant will produce about 2,000 coffee cherries (or 4,000 beans) each year.  Sounds like a lot, right?  Well, those 4,000 beans, after processing and roasting, equate to approximately one pound of coffee. 

Community Caravan

This Saturday, April 9 - SOWEGA CASA, a local non-profit that advocates for abused, neglected, and abandoned children is hosting a "Casablanca" friendraiser event to raise awareness and needed funds for their work. Reception begins at 6pm, movie begins at 7pm. The event includes period-like setting including cars and costumes and culminates in a showing of the classic movie starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.  For tickets or information, call SOWEGA CASA at 931-4488 or the Rylander Theatre at 931-0001.  And read many more details of the upcoming evening at www.americustimesrecorder.com.

It's been great to see several groups passing through Americus area in the past several weeks.  Koinonia, Habitat for Humanity, and The Fuller Center for Housing have become popular destinations for college Spring Breakers who prefer a service-oriented "vacation" rather than the traditional Spring Break ventures.  And we're happy to say that Cafe Campesino has also become part of that for many of these groups.  Tours of our roasting facility and great coffee make for a fun hour or two during their visits to Sumter County.
Contact us if you'd like to come by for a tour and talk about fair trade.  We'd love to see you here.

Quotes of the Month

We're doubling up this month in the Quotes Dept.  Both of these revealing quotes (or quoti) were gathered during the Guatemala trip.

"I think differently when I'm hungry," ~ a coffee farmer during our recent trip to Guatemala referencing the decision to sell his coffee to coyotes "on-the-spot" or wait and sell to the cooperative.

"For me, it is a justice to know our customers. It calms me and brings me peace," Aura Marina Lopez Perez, treasurer of the APECAFORM cooperative, talking with Cooperative Coffees members in Pueblo Nuevo, Guatemala, March 26, 2011.

Fair Grounds is produced by:

Café Campesino
725 Spring Street
Americus, GA 31709

Contact Information:

Orders and General Information
Phone - 888.532.4728, 229.924.2468
Fax - 229.389.4814
http://www.cafecampesino.com
info@cafecampesino.com

Staff:

Cafe Campesino Roastery & Coffee House in Americus:
Nancy Aparicio
Dave Campbell
Marco de la Paz
Marcia Dupree
Nema Etheridge
Bill Harris
Geoffrey Hennies
Levi Lyman-Barner
Karen Montano
Joel Petron
Tripp Pomeroy
Stacie Smith