Today I had the privilege of meeting two fair trade cocoa producers from the Dominican Republic. They are in the US at the invitation of FT company Equal Exchange and are on a speaking tour of our region. This morning they were at the Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, and I joined a small group which gathered to hear them.
It was quite inspiring to learn the history of their cocoa-growing cooperative. From modest beginnings in 1988, CONACADO now includes a quarter of the small-scale cocoa farmers in the Dominican Republic, and through fair trade premiums enables farming communities to build resources such as clinics and schools as well as invest in business development. CONACADO farmers were the first cocoa growers in the world to receive organic certification for their crops and their cocoa is regarded as some of the finest available.
For me, it was just great to meet people from the production side of the fair trade equation. One reason I got into the fair trade movement was a growing consciousness that generally these days we have little or no connection with the people who grow or make the things we buy - and that bothers me. Today was a chance to make connections. It was a good experience.
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