Cooperation Among Cooperatives – Farmer Co-ops in India, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Latin America partner with Equal Exchange and Canadian co-op La Siembra to provide alternative to corporate takeover of fair trade

Ottawa, January 13, 2019 – Ottawa-based La Siembra Cooperative, renowned for its market-leading Camino certified fair trade and organic chocolates, has partnered with Equal Exchange to bring small-farmer grown fair trade organic tea and coffee to the Canadian market.

“Canadian consumers helped redefine what is fair for farmers of cocoa and sugar when they started supporting Camino 20 years ago.   There are very few small-scale farmer tea organizations and even fewer that are democratic.  These teas are a way for Canadians to once again lead meaningful change for growers in Darjeeling, Kerala, Sri Lanka, and Cederberg while advancing the standards of authentic fair trade,” notes La Siembra Co-Executive Director and Equal Exchange worker-owner Tom Hanlon-Wilde.

Almost all the world’s tea, including the vast majority sold under fair trade certification programs, is produced on plantations where a single owner employs farm workers.  Equal Exchange sought out democratically-organized owners on tea gardens to bring authentic fair trade of the tea market.  The bagged and boxed teas being introduced in Canada are the top selling teas in the natural foods category south of the border.  The coffees are also small-farmer grown by co-ops with whom Equal Exchange and La Siembra have been working for decades. 

Rob Everts, Co-Executive Director of Equal Exchange, explains “We are optimistic that Canadians consumers will appreciate not only the quality of these coffees and teas, but also the exciting cross-border collaboration of our two pioneering fair trade worker cooperatives.”

As a Canadian worker-owned cooperative, La Siembra Co-operative is among those that have represented the heart of fair trade and its goal of building markets for small farmers from the beginning.  But corporations and large plantations now threaten the integrity of this movement.  To advance the work of authentic fair trade, we have joined forces with our sister worker coop Equal Exchange in the U.S. to defend hard-won gains and bring small farmers and citizen-consumers closer together.   Since 1986, Equal Exchange has built enduring relationships with coffee cooperatives around the world. La Siembra Co-operative, better known by its pioneering chocolate brand Camino, is now proud to provide for Canadian consumers Equal Exchange’s renowned organic coffee. 

Equal Exchange Tea and Coffee have the following product attributes:

• Small-farmer grown, democratically organized farmers
• Produced and distributed by worker-owned co-ops
• Certified Organic –NO GMOs
• Kosher
• Vegan-Friendly, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free
• Tea – higher weight and unit count than other organic teas on market
• Tea – single ingredient teas for pure flavour

Coffee – purchased under conditions defined by SPP.COOP

En tant que coopérative de travail canadienne, La Siembra fait partie depuis ses tous débuts, des intervenants qui incarnent les fondements mêmes du commerce équitable, avec comme objectif principal de développer des marchés au service des petits producteurs paysans.  Cependant les grandes entreprises et les grandes plantations menacent aujourd’hui l’intégrité de ce mouvement. Dans le but de faire progresser un commerce équitable authentique, nous avons uni nos forces à celles de la coopérative de travail Equal Exchange basée aux États-Unis pour, d’une part, défendre notre position bien établie, et d’autre part, continuer à rapprocher les producteurs paysans et les citoyens-consommateurs.

Download PDF Sellsheet: Equal_Exchange_Tea_Coffee_Sellsheet_Bil_c