Enter CADO. Deep in the foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes, small-scale family farmers are growing sugar cane on steep hills.? CADO, or the Sweet Organic Agro-craft Consortium (Consorcio Agro-artesanal Dulce Org?nico in Spanish) is a consortium of five small regional sugar cane producer groups, representing 18 communities in two provinces. Founded in 2003 with the support Rural Forestation and Progress Network Corporation or CRACYP, an Ecuadorean Non Governmental Organization, CADO?s mission is to facilitate fair prices and local self-development for member families.

CADO formed to provide value added product for sugar cane producers in the provinces of Bolivar and Cotopaxi, two of Ecuador?s the poorest provinces. With 198 member families, CADO has the capacity to produce 24,000 tons of organic certified alcohol annually. Located in a prolific sugar producing country, CADO undertook the challenge of finding a niche for producing socially and environmentally sustainable alcohol. At present, CADO produces organic ethanol for use in extraction of compounds, potable organic alcohol for use in the liquor industry and organic alcohol for use in perfumery or industrial processes.

Despite early setbacks, CADO has successfully secured contracts with the UK?s Body Shop and Dr. Bronner?s Magic Soaps. CADO attained The Body Shop sources CADO alcohol for a number of products, including its Love Etc?? perfume. Dr. Bronner?s will use CADO?s alcohol in its organic and fair trade Hand Sanitizing Spray as well as other products. Dr. Bronner?s will be the first to market products with certified organic and fair trade alcohol in the United States.? CADO was recently certified fair trade under IMO?s Fair For Life program.

More than just a mechanism for commercializing organic alcohol, CADO has embraced and advanced the fair trade ethic of true sustainability. Not only must CADO members commit to organic practices, and agree to have their land certified organic and fair trade, they pledge not only to leave existing forest intact, but also reforest degraded or logged land. CADO?s own internal social premium model requires a percentage of all sales be earmarked for a small reforestation fund. Maintaining and reestablishing the native forest is essential to both alcohol distillation and the integrity of the local ecosystem. To distill sugar cane juice into alcohol, families need access to an ample water supply. Without proper forest cover, the land dries up and families are left without water for personal consumption and the ability to distill alcohol.

Key to CADO?s approach to fair trade is fair and stable prices for its members. CADO members receive upwards of double the local market price for alcohol. According CADO member and Internal Control System team member, Luis Fredy Avalos, CADO?s program has provided a ?for my family, a fair price [for our organic alcohol] is very important. It allows us to provide for our family and send our children to school. Before fair trade, we were at the mercy of intermediary buyers.?

More than fair prices for their products, CADO members regularly point out two important outcomes of their organization: technology transfer and improved access to education. CADO facilitates microloans to families to purchase new distilling equipment, organic farming inputs and other resources to improve efficiency and quality of their alcohol. Rural technical advisors provide on the ground training for families on everything from organic farming techniques to quality control measures for the distillation equipment.

Prior to CADO, local community members rarely advanced beyond a 5th grade education. Children often worked side by side with their parents in the fields out of economic necessity. Today, the younger generation of CADO families universally graduating from high school. CADO policies and fair trade standards require that children not actively labor, but attend school. CADO?s efforts at improving efficiency on the farm and raising the standard of living for members has greatly facilitated educational endeavors for the communities? young people.? For Carlos Cabrera, CRACYP Director, CADO?s efforts go beyond simply ?creating a stable market for producers. Implementing traceability and internal control measures, key requirements in organic and fair trade certification, have greatly improved communities? environmental health and have assured that more children are now attending school.?

Looking to the future, CADO and CRACYP are setting their sites on diversification and cooperation. Next in the product pipeline is a ?Cocoa Cr?me? liqueur, blending organic and fair trade dairy, sugar, and cocoa from producer groups in the area. CADO is also working on developing a Farmstay EcoTourism Project and providing a sustainable alternative to the agrofuel craze. If the demand for agrofuels continues to rise, fertile land will continue to be converted from growing food to producing agrofuels. CADO?s vision provides a model for utilizing marginalized land, while safeguarding local ecosystems and provide just? and dignified work to vulnerable communities.

For CADO President Cecilia Arcos, ?fair trade is more than a fair price. It is about building consciousness in our communities. It is about acquiring the tools to be self-reliant?.It is about lifting up the poorest of our members and making sure no one is left behind.?

The post Ecuador Fair Trade Visit Part I: Adventures in Organic Fair Trade Alcohol appeared first on Fair World Project.

What is the mission and history of?interrupcion* fair trade?

• interrupcion* is a stakeholder community that is working to build a positive future through responsible consumption, sustainable community development, organic farming and fair trade.

• We seek to build a model of trade and global interaction between consumers, businesses and producers that positively impacts the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the world.

• interrupcion* integrates the interests of the public and the private through our non-profit and for-profit collaborative model.? We do this by developing an ever-growing assortment of delicious Fair Trade and Organic products, continually investing in the sustainability of each of our supply chains and building a network of consumers, businesses and producers joined by the common desire to build a better world through responsible action.? We offer market accessibility and micro-credit for producers, fair wages for laborers and farmers, fair trade premiums for producing communities, and continual positive processes for our earth.

• We began as a non-profit organization in Buenos Aires, Argentina dedicated to promoting socially responsible business and citizen participation in response to the dramatic Argentine economic collapse in 2001. Through our many community projects and awareness campaigns we witnessed the amazing change that is possible when individuals come together for the common good of society.

• In 2003, our first socially responsible products arrived in New York: colorful, scented candles from a small candle making cooperative in Buenos Aires. Today, our product catalogue has grown extensively as we continue to partner with small and medium producers throughout Latin America to create premium, all-natural organic and fair trade products while investing to build sustainability into each aspect of our production.
• We believe that the journey toward a sustainable future begins when we interrupt* habitual ways of understanding our personal impact on the world to develop a new, global sense of influence that creates responsible action. This concept of interrupting* to create a more responsible, healthy and sustainable form of participation in society gave us our name: interrupcion*.? The asterisk* symbolizes the process behind the product.? It reminds us to look at the positive impact we can have on the workers harvesting our fruits, their children, the producing communities, and the earth.? As we like to say, ?your purchase* is power?

2) What are the challenges to running a 100% fair trade business?

• Sharing risks with farmers by guaranteeing a fixed minimum price that covers costs and an additional fair trade premium that goes towards the vitality of the producing communities? health and education
• Nature and climate change create unpredictability for seasons and harvests, increasing risks for all involved

3) What are some of the current trends in fair trade and organic?

• GROWTH, new items, new markets
• Huge amounts of information is available to consumers regarding where the food came from and how it was made, and their learning
• Connecting with our food supply
• Nutrition and Vitality in our food

4) Fair trade seems to be at a crossroads. What do you see as the future of fair trade?

• A world where fair pay for fair work, and positive environmental processes, exist as a standard in our food system.
• Where we can buy fairly traded food at the supermarket, or the local farmers market, in our produce, and in our shelf stable groceries.
• Greater accessibility to all global citizens despite class or geography

5) Please share a success story from one of your producer partners.

During 2009-2010, Interrupcion* Fair Trade sold over 58,000 boxes of fair trade organic blueberries from our Chilean partners Green Tribe.? Accumulating over $26,000 in Fair Trade Premiums, the group was able to provide immediate relief to Chile after the country was struck with a massive earthquake in February 2010. By investing nearly half of the premiums towards relief, families were provided with emergency houses, materials were provided for any necessary reconstruction, and aid was provided for the proper treatment of waste. In just moments, The Fair Trade premiums were translated into a sense of hope, strength, and refuge for a community at large?true success in their eyes. ?They developed centers of recreation for families as a way to meet the immediate social needs of their communities. Further, students in the community were given financial aid for payment to enroll in school, and recently, the Ancoa River was cleaned to improve community aesthetics as well as to return times of leisure, and relaxation to families and friends. Our producers in Argentina have focused their Fair Trade Premium investments on economic sustainability, providing the unemployed with jobs, and workers with necessary materials and technologies, such as computers and television sets. ?Interrupcion* Fair Trade Blueberries have been a key player in the development of health, education, and social and economic sustainability of our blueberry communities.? It is every time we learn of the story of Mr. Paez?s son who had a tumor that affected his mobility, but had a beautiful room constructed for him that was funded by an Interrupcion* Fair Trade premium, that you understand what purchasing these products truly means, and it means success.

6) What is next for Interrupcion* ?

• Fair Trade Bananas from the Dominican Republic, Asparagus from Peru and Argentina, Cherries and Blueberries from Chile, Strawberries and Raspberries and Blackberries and avocados from Mexico, snow peas and string beans from Guatemala, Pineapple Fresh Cuts from Costa Rica
• We imagine growing our community and going from working with 15,000 rural laborers in 2010 to 15 million in the decades ahead, creating a virtual positive cycle of commerce that benefits all of its stakeholders*

Michela* Calabrese

Director of Stakeholder Communications, interrupcion* fair trade

michela.calabrese@interrupcion.net

For more information about? interrupcion* fair trade please check out their website. www.interrupcionfairtrade.com

The post Interview with Interrupcion* Fair Trade’s Michela* Calabrese appeared first on Fair World Project.

Discovery Organics, a British Colombia based organic and fair trade distributors has a unique commitment to fair trade. While there are several examples of 100% fair trade coffee roasters and mission driven companies that have made comprehensive pledge to fair trade, very few distributors and wholesalers undergone the investment and commitment to fair trade, like Discovery Organics.

Discovery Organic’s Trish Kelly had this to say about fair trade, “Fair Trade is an easy extension of the Discovery Organics buying philosophy; we believe in supporting small scale farmers, endeavoring to help them build a market for their crops, and make enough money to cover the cost of production plus a fair profit on the crops we buy. Those are the same goals we have for our relationships with growers here at home, as well as abroad.” In fact, Discovery Organics was named Fair Trade Vancouver Distributor of the Year for 2010.

Discovery Organics is both a Transfair Canada licensee and a Fair for Life brandholder, with the following certified products:

Check out Discovery Organic’s website here.

The post Discovery Organics: Taking Fair Trade Further appeared first on Fair World Project.