- Food First: Institute for Food and Developmental Policy —
So, hard-strapped campesino coffee coops that have spent nearly two decades making the organic certification system work, are now to be the sacrificial lambs for the industrial organic industry. By sabotaging smallholder certification, the USDA risks destroying organic�and Fairtrade�coffee markets in the U.S.
- Just Coffee —
Growers have been loud and clear about the costs of organic certification. Their message is that even with only 20% of farmers being inspected, it is debatable whether many can recover their costs for added labor and certification expenses. Multiply those costs by another 80% and you have effectively made certification unaffordable for the vast number of small growers.
April 19, 2007 at 8:40 am
We at Equal Exchange import organic, Fair Trade coffee, cocoa, tea and sugar from almost 30 small farmer co-ops around the world that stand to be slammed by this new USDA policy.
Therefore we are working with the National Organic Coalition to seek out co-signers for a letter that will be delivered to the USDA expressing our concern. The deadline to sign on is TUESDAY, APRIL 24th.
Please visit the link below for more information and to sign on to the
letter:
http://www.equalexchange.com/sign-on-to-national-organic-coalition-letter
Thank you,
Rodney North
EQUAL EXCHANGE
A Worker Co-operative Dedicated to Fair Trade
http://www.equalexchange.coop
April 19, 2007 at 9:06 am
Thank you, Rodney!
I encourage folks to sign on to the national coalition letter that you’ve provided.
I also invite any roaster, retailer, broker, importer, coop or fan of organic coffees to offer their voice here, where other folks can see the scope, and breadth, and depth of this policy’s effects. It touches upon countless thousands of farmers, and most everyone in coffee’s path from tree to cup.