New Orleans The ineffective anarchy of FLO certification through the various national fair trade organizations (though not the USA, since ours has disaffiliated, further weakening the standards) is crumbling before my eyes based on their own inability to change and the constant assault by both major corporations on one hand, who assert that they can do …
Tag: fair trade
Life in the Coffee Mountains with Co-ops Big and Small
Marcala Thanks to our friends at the small women’s coffee and aloe vera cooperative, COMUCAP, we usually stay at their cabinas high in the mountains. There’s no water or electricity, but the setting is beautiful and the bunks work fine for us. They hope someday eco-tourism will come their way, who knows? We started driving up …
On the Farm in Paterno: Organic versus Fair Trade
Paterno I had been to Paolo Guarnaccia’s family farm in 2009 when a group of us had dinner with his family while talking about the Simeto Valley. Now I saw it differently as we joined his wife for a simple and delicious lunch there. I had not fully realized that the farm was still in Paterno, …