fairly trades coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks
Linked with Small Farmers Big Change – a campaign of Equal Exchange.
- Equal Exchange has created Big Change since 1986. Our founders envisioned a food system that empowers farmers and consumers, supports small farmer co-ops, and uses sustainable farming methods. They started with fairly traded coffee from Nicaragua and didn’t look back. Today, we continue to find new and powerful ways to build a better food system. We partner with co-operatives of farmers who provide high-quality organic coffees, teas, chocolates and snacks from farmers all over the world, including here in the United States.
- We invite you to join us. Together we can create stronger local communities, a more just food system and a healthier planet. (Homepage).
Sitemap;
Wholesale; Story; Products; Farmer Partners;
Program; Resources; Get involved; Fundraising; Newsletter; Links; FAQs;
Contacts (and many Addresses).
Our Co-op: Equal Exchange has created Big Change for over 20 years. It all started with an idea: what if food could be traded in a way that is honest and fair, a way that empowers both farmers and consumers? What if trade supported family farms that use organic methods, rather than industrialized agribusinesses that rely on harmful chemicals?
Our founders – Rink Dickinson, Jonathan Rosenthal and Michael Rozyne – asked these questions as they envisioned a trade model that values the farmers, consumers and the earth. So they took a big risk and plunged full-force into changing a broken food system. In 1986, they started with fairly traded coffee from Nicaragua and didn’t look back. Read more about our story.
Today, Equal Exchange continues to find new and powerful ways to build a better food system. Our products now include fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, chocolate and snacks from farmers all over the world, including here in the United States.
Our worker-owned co-op is based in West Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Because Equal Exchange was founded with democratic principles in mind, we strongly believe in a one-person, one-vote workplace without a corporate hierarchy. We partner with co-operatives of small-scale farmers who make their own decisions on business and community matters.
From the farmers’ co-ops to our co-op, we’re providing the best-tasting foods – while also making Big Changes to the way food ends up on your table. We’ll keep the ideas coming.
Our Mission:
- Equal Exchange’s mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.
Our Guiding Principles:
- Trade directly with democratically organized small farmer cooperatives.
- Facilitate access to credit for producer organizations.
- Pay producers a guaranteed minimum price that provides a stable source of income as well as improved social services.
- Provide high quality food products.
- Support sustainable farming practices.
- Build a democratically-run cooperative workplace.
- Develop more environmentally-sound business practices.
Our Vision: … (full long text).