Author Archive

Tune in to Provoke Radio radio this week to hear a brilliant discussion of Fair Trade featuring our own Jackie DeCarlo (CRS Fair Trade program advisor and recently published author), and Chris Treter (co-founder of CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program partner Higher Grounds in Lake Leelanau, MI).  The episode is the third in the show’s series on [...]

Read the entry: CRS and Higher Grounds Provoke Radio Listeners →

A number of people have written or called in recent days asking about a topic of perennial concern and interest: the price that farmers earn for their Fair Trade coffee. We did update folks in The Coffee Issue of our e-newsletter a few months ago, but apparently not everyone subscribes. So…here is the WHO, WHAT, [...]

Read the entry: What is a Fair Price, Anyway? →

I am writing this on the plane ride home from Long Beach, where I just participated in the 19th Specialty Coffee Association of America conference – my fourth since I took over the CRS Coffee Program in 2004.  As I think about this year’s conference and compare it with the three previous ones, it occurs [...]

Read the entry: The 100% Fair Trade Approach: Imitated, Never Duplicated →

Our friends from Nicaragua finished their first SCAA experience Monday, and Tuesday began a five-day speaking tour in the L.A. metro area.
Yesterday afternoon after the exhibition closed, they reflected on the experience.  “I never imagined I would come to something like this,” said CECOSEMAC’s marketing coordinator Immer Montoya.  President Adrian Arauz, pictured here on the [...]

Read the entry: Update: Nicaraguan Farmers Finish Show, Start Tour →

Dean Cycon, founder of CRS Coffee Program partner Dean’s Beans, has been making headlines for years – for his ads in The Village Voice challenging major coffee corporations to increase their commitment to Fair Trade, for his decision to withhold Fair Trade licensing fees from TransFair USA and return them to the farmers who grow [...]

Read the entry: Deans Beans Serving Landmine Victims in Coffeelands →

In a recent post titled “The End of Organic Coffee?” we told you about a USDA ruling that threatened to squeeze hundreds of thousands of small-scale family farmers out of the U.S. organic coffee market and dramatically reduce the amount of certified organic coffee available to consumers here in the United States. 
Good news!  The USDA just issued [...]

Read the entry: Update: USDA Postpones Changes in Organic Certification! →

In last month’s Special Coffee Issue of the CRS Fair Trader, we told you about Ethiopia’s campaign to trademark the names of its coffee regions.  Today we are writing with happy news: after two days of meetings in Seattle earlier this week, the Ethiopian Government and Starbucks issued a joint press release announcing an agreement [...]

Read the entry: Update: Ethiopia and Starbucks Reach Agreement! →

Beginning next week, you can ask them questions — about coffee, organic farming, Fair Trade, life in Nicaragua, or anything else — during their Southern California speaking tour

Read the entry: Nicaraguan Coffee Farmers in California, Part 2 →

Jacqueline DeCarlo, former director of the Fair Trade Resource Network and currently Fair Trade Program Advisor at CRS, has written the book on Fair Trade…literally!
Jackie has been a leader in the U.S. Fair Trade movement for many years and provided inspiration and counsel to countless people. Now her accumulated wisdom is available “Fair Trade: A [...]

Read the entry: CRS Advisor Writes the Book on Fair Trade →

CRS supports cooperatives of small-scale coffee farmers in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In Nicaragua, CRS has accompanied the Aroma del Cafe cooperative for the past five years. Three members of that cooperative will be in California from May 3-7 to participate in the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual conference. After that, they will [...]

Read the entry: Nicaraguan Coffee Farmers on Tour in California →