by Tripp Pomeroy, Café Campesino’s General Manager

From September 2nd through the 9th, the members of Cooperative Coffees (of which Café Campesino is one of the founding members) gathered in Xela, Guatemala, with more than a dozen of our producer partners from Latin America to listen, learn and plan for the future. The forty or so roasters and coffee producers who attended this year’s annual meeting agreed unanimously to strengthen our relationship by addressing specific issues central to our shared vision of Fair Trade. We identified four key areas that require immediate attention, bearing in mind that we are uniformly committed to the development of a truly fair Fair Trade model.

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Café Campesino has been invited by our friends at Oxfam America and British rock group Coldplay to set up at their September 28th concert at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. Though we will be talking with concert-goers about Café Campesino and our work as a 100% Fair Trade coffee company (and serving up samples most likely), our primary purpose for participating in this great event is to help out with Oxfam America’s and Coldplay’s Big Noise Campaign and promote awareness of trade rules that keep millions of farmers in poverty.

We are thrilled to be part of this important event and the Big Noise Campaign and ask our supporters to take a few minutes to learn more about this campaign and, if it feels right, add your name to the Big Noise Campaign petition at www.maketradefair.com.

To learn more about Café Campesino’s upcoming event at the Coldplay concert and the Make Trade Fair Big Noise Campaign, read on in this month’s Community Caravan.

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As you are reading this month’s edition of Fair Grounds, Lee, Bill and Tripp are en route to Washington, DC, for this weekend’s (September 24th & 25th) 2005 Green Festival at the Washington Convention Center. We’ll be in booth number 324, so stop by to say hello, sample some coffee and meet like-minded folks from all over.

If you can make it to the festival, be sure to join us on Saturday, September 24th, from 3:30 to 4:30 PM in the Green Festival’s Fair Trade Pavilion, where Tripp and other representatives of Cooperative Coffees will be conducting a Fair Trade Coffee Workshop addressing the role of producer relations in Fair Trade…if you need further enticement, Café Campesino and the other 17 members of Cooperative Coffees will be giving away over 100 pounds of coffee throughout the weekend…free, Fair Trade, organic coffee from a group of truly dedicated, skilled roasters...wow!

To learn more about the DC Green Festival, visit www.greenfestivals.com.

On Wednesday, September 28th, Tripp, Lee and Geoffrey will be heading up to Atlanta to set up shop, serve fair trade coffee samples, talk Fair Trade and join Oxfam and Coldplay in promoting their Make Trade Fair Big Noise campaign.

Coldplay is championing the Make Trade Fair campaign during their "Twisted Logic" tour in August and September. The concerts feature music from their long-awaited third release—"X&Y"—and a call to sign the Big Noise petition. This petition calls on world leaders to change trade rules that keep millions of farmers across the world in poverty. In 2003, Oxfam gathered 10,000 Big Noise signatures during Coldplay’s 14-date US tour. This year, Oxfam hopes to get 50,000 signatures.

Before each concert, Coldplay shows a brief video on the suffering caused by bad trade policies and the potential for trade reform to lift millions out of poverty. The video calls on concert-goers to sign the Big Noise petition by using their cell phones to send a text message. Sun Microsystems is providing the technology and support for thousands of anticipated text messages. Oxfam volunteers will also collect petition signatures by hand.

The Big Noise petition has been signed by 7.7 million people globally. Oxfam will deliver the Big Noise to world trade ministers this December at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong. To learn more visit www.maketradefair.com.

A REMINDER….AGAIN (A RE-REMINDER?) From September 30 to October 2, 2005, Tripp and Bill will be in Chicago, IL for the Fair Trade Futures Conference, designed to strengthen Fair Trade mission-driven organizations and attract customers and activists to the movement.

If you are interested in joining us, please visit http://www.fairtradefutures.org where you can learn more about the conference and register to attend. The National Fair Trade Conference is sponsored by: A Greater Gift/SERRV, Catholic Relief Services, Cooperative Coffees, Equal Exchange, Lutheran World Relief, Oxfam America and Ten Thousand Villages.

And finally, on October 2nd through the 5th, Geoffrey will be serving Café Campesino in Newnan, Georgia at the 2005 BRAG Georgia BikeFest. A Café Campesino tradition, the Fall BRAG is sure to be another hit for bike and coffee enthusiasts alike. To learn more, visit www.brag.org.

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Café Campesino is thrilled to introduce you to one of our newer customers: Rainbow Natural Grocery. In the short time that we have known each other, the folks at Rainbow have demonstrated an inspiring, genuine commitment to Café Campesino and our work as a fair trade coffee company. Located in Jackson, Mississippi, Rainbow Natural Grocery is a non-profit cooperative grocery owned and operated by its members. Formed in 1980 from a handful of citizens in a whole foods buying club, it has grown to over 200,000 members and continues to see tremendous growth as our city moves toward healthier lifestyles and eating habits. 

The Rainbow strives to remain active in its community through education, fundraising, and participation in addition to offering locally farmed produce and honey, organic grocery, supplements, hygiene, and choice fair trade, shade grown coffees. The Rainbow has spawned the world's first Computer Co-op as well as state's first vegetarian and vegan restaurant which also prepares school lunches for the local Montessori School. They are presently involved in efforts to place playground equipment in a local park, riding in the National Multiple Sclerosis Bike Tour, sitting on discussion panels at local colleges, and a host of other activities. If you find yourself in Jackson, be sure to stop by The Rainbow at 2807 Old Canton Road. Their telephone number is 601-366-1602.

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Although A Different Approach is primarily a wholesale Fair Trade business, Café Campesino feels strongly that when our partners in the Fair Trade movement, whether here or overseas, are going through difficult times, we make an extra effort to support them. A Different Approach is one such domestic fair trade partner whose operations are based in New Orleans and who, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, has been forced to relocate until its community in New Orleans is reopened.

A Different Approach is a Fair Trade wholesaler of Nicaraguan crafts. However, as an individual, you can visit their website at www.adifferentapproach.com where you can learn more about and view photos of their truly beautiful Nicaraguan crafts as well as request a list of stores near you that carry them. (Three Frontiers Trading Company, a sister company of Café Campesino, proudly carries crafts from A Different Approach – to order, please visit us at www.threefrontiers.com.)

A Different Approach began working with the artisans in Nicaraguan six years ago after spending a bit of time in Central America. Nicaragua has many exceptional artisans including potters, sculptors, painters and weavers. However, most of these artisans do not have adequate access to markets to provide a decent living for themselves and their families. The number of tourists who visit Nicaragua is low compared to its neighbors, and Nicaragua has not yet developed its international craft market to the level of other Latin American nations. A Different Approach decided to help in the expansion of their markets by becoming one outlet dedicated to bringing these beautiful Nicaraguan crafts to the American public.

A Different Approach will return to its warehouse and will be back up and running as soon as possible and they anticipate ramping backup to full speed during October. In the meantime, A Different Approach can be contacted at by telephone at 318.869.4202…we hope that Fair Grounds readers will do what they can to support our friends at A Different Approach.

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“True hope dwells on the possible, even when life seems to be a plot written by someone who wants to see how much adversity we can overcome.”

— Walter Anderson

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• August 2005 Producer Profile: Fondo Paez, Customer Spotlight: Apoteca, Fair Trade Partner: Pachamama, A World of Artisans
• July 2005 Harrar Joins Our Coffee Lineup, Producer Profile: Ethiopia's OCFCU, Fair Trade on the Home Front
• June 2005 Sumatra Update: June 2005 provided by Thomas Fricke, ForesTrade, National Fair Trade Conference, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• May 2005 Producer Profile: ACMPASA Santa Anita, Top 10 Ways to Support Fair Trade, Customer Spotlight: Crimson Moon Café, Fair Trade Partner: Fair Trade Resource Network
• April 2005 An Eye-Opening Trip to Guatemala by Bill Harris, Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade Coffee Program, Manna Grocery and Deli, La Esmeralda Stove Project
• March 2005 Insights From Our Guatemala Producer Partners by Tripp Pomeroy, Take Us To Your Coffeehouse!, Customer Spotlight: The Sentient Bean, Fair Trade Partner: Mexico Solidarity Network
• February 2005 Meeting Our Guatemala Partners Face to Face, Producer Profile: APECAFORM, Customer Spotlight: Mayflower Coffee Company, Fair Trade Partner: CoffeeTradeJustice.com
• January 2005 Tragedy's Wake: Update From Sumatra, Producer Profile: PPKGO Cooperative
• December 2004 Mexico: Notes From the Field, Customer Spotlight: Ten Thousand Villages, Fair Trade Partner: Cloudforest Initiatives
• November 2004 Conscious Consumption: A Personal Perspective, Customer Spotlight: Oyamel - Cocina Mexicana, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• October 2004 A Mission...Not a Market: The 2004 Vote: Making it Work
• September 2004 Producer News: CECOCAFEN in the Off Season, Customer Spotlight: The Healthy Gourmet
• August 2004 Producer Profile: Cooperativa Café Timor, Fair Trade Friends: Marketplace of India
• July 2004 A Fair Trade Reality Check, Fair Trade Friends: Tribal Fiber, Coffee Lab International
• June 2004 The Promise of Fair Trade, Fair Trade Friend: Global Crafts
• May 2004 Fair Trade at the Carter Center, SCAA meeting.
• April 2004 Coffee and Community in Nicaragua, Fair Trade in Americus Makes the News!
• March 2004 Fair Trade chocolate, Rosetta's Kitchen
• February 2004 Bill's Return to Guatemala, Guayakí Rainforest
• January 2004 Espresso - What's the Buzz?
• December 2003 Fair Trade: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Challenge; Fellow Fair Traders: SERRV International
• November 2003 Fair Trade: More Than Just a Fair Price; Fellow Fair Traders: Lucuma Designs
• October 2003 Exploring the Coffee Regions
• September 2003 Cooperative Coffees Annual Meeting
• August 2003 Fair Trade Friends: Oxfam America; The Art (and Science) of Roasting Coffee
• July 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra
• June 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Guatemala; Gayo Mountain Adventure; Dr. Coffee - Cupping
• May 2003 Fair Trade Friends: United Students for Fair Trade; World Fair Trade Day
• April 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Ethiopia; Celebrating Earth Day with Fair Trade
• March 2003 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 2; SWP Decaffeination
• February 2002 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 1
• January 2003 My Life as a Bean
• December 2002 Exploring Our Origins: East Timor; Sustainable Development
• November 2002 New Website; Gift Baskets
• October 2002 Interview with roaster Lee Harris
• September 2002 ForesTrade Wins UN Sustainability Award; Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra's Gayo Cooperative
• August 2002 Producer News: Shade Grown; Fair Trade Friends: Atlanta Audubon
• July 2002 Exploring Our Origins: Colombia
• June 2002 Back Roads Journal: Cooperative Coffees and Café Campesino; Exploring Our Origins: Peru; Fair Trade Friends: Music of the Andes
• May 2002 Staff Notes: Cinco de Mayo; Producer News: Visit to Mut Viz; Back Roads Journal: SCAA Meeting
• April 2002 Back Roads Journal: Travels in Fair Trade; Customer Composting Tip