WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA - April 3, 2007 - Equal Exchange, known for Fairly Traded coffee, tea and chocolate, has introduced a line of packaged snacks including Organic Dried Cranberries, Roasted Georgia Pecans, and Organic Tamari-Roasted Almonds. These "Domestic Fair Trade" products are sourced from family farmers and farmer co-operatives right here in the US.

"Our goal is to 'Bring Fair Trade Home,' " said Erbin Crowell, Domestic Fair Trade Program Manager for Equal Exchange. "For 20 years we have been connecting small farmers in the developing world with consumers here in the US. This is an opportunity to connect these consumers with family farmers here in our own backyard."

Equal Exchange's roasted pecans, for example, are grown in southwest Georgia by the members of the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-op (SAAC), a co-operative of African-American farmers and workers. In a region devastated by unemployment, SAAC helps to market its members' pecans and operates a shelling facility that provides jobs in the community.

How does Fair Trade, which has focused on international trade, work with U.S. farmers? "Fair Trade is not just about price, but about building long-term partnerships," said Crowell. "Before we even purchased any pecans, Equal Exchange worked with SAAC to upgrade their equipment, figure out fair pricing, and then pre-paid about half of our contract so the co-op had working capital for the season." Equal Exchange also provided an additional 'fair trade development premium' that the co-op can invest toward community needs.

In keeping with their Fair Trade mission, Equal Exchange also emphasizes connecting consumers with the people who grow their food. "With these products, the farmer's identity doesn't disappear into the commodity system when she sells her pecans," said Crowell. "Her pecans were shelled by her co-op which means that more of the control, resources and jobs stayed in her own community. Equal Exchange markets the pecans, which means that the resources stay accountable to our Fair Trade mission. And when the consumer purchases these products, they can learn more about the community that produced them."

On the back of each package is a code that consumers can type in at Equal Exchange's website in order to learn more about the people who grew and processed their snacks.

This model offers an alternative to the conventional global food system. For example, as control of the food processing and distribution has become more concentrated among an ever-shrinking list of large corporations, farmers and farm workers around the globe are caught between declining prices for their products, the consolidation of processing, markets and distribution, and tightening control over inputs such as seed. Today, just 10 corporations account for over 50% of the revenue generated globally by food retailing. And as agribusiness profits have gone up, the share of the consumer dollar received by farming communities has declined dramatically. Here in the US, the total number of farms fell from 6.5 million to just over 2 million between 1935 and 1997. And by 2003, there were just 1.9 million working farmers in the country - less than the prison population.

Back in 1986, Equal Exchange set out to change the way people think about food and trade. Their goal was to provide a Fair Trade link between shoppers and farming co-operatives in the developing world. Now, twenty years later, Fair Trade has entered the mainstream. While it wasn't so long ago that the coffee industry dismissed more equitable relationships with small farmers as unrealistic, today there are some 400 U.S. companies purchasing at least a small portion of their coffee under Fair Trade terms. And Fair Trade isn’t just for coffee any more: products such as chocolate, tea, and bananas have become common not just on the shelves of food co-ops, but in the aisles of mainstream grocery stores.

Now consumers can also find fairly traded pecans, almonds, and cranberries from farmers in the US.

For more information on Equal Exchange's Domestic Fair Trade Program, please visit www.equalexchange.coop/dft.

DISTRIBUTION & BACKGROUND

Equal Exchange's fairly traded snacks are being launched initially through their consumer webstore, food co-ops, and Equal Exchange's Interfaith Program, which distributes fairly traded products to thousands of congregations nationwide. For more information, please visit: www.equalexchange.coop/where-to-find-your-snacks.

Equal Exchange is a full service provider of high quality, fairly traded and organic coffee, tea, cocoa powder, hot cocoa mix and chocolate to retailers and food service establishments. A pioneer and U.S. market leader in fairly traded coffee, Equal Exchange helped introduce Fair Trade to the nation's specialty coffee industry in 1986. Fair Trade has since become an established segment of the coffee market, and sales of fairly traded coffee Fair Trade coffee sales in the US have been growing 60 to 100 percent annually in recent years. The Fair Trade model has also been adopted for the import of premium tea, cocoa, and fresh tropical fruits. 100% of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting 40 small farmer co-operatives in 19 countries around the world. In keeping with its mission, Equal Exchange is a worker co-operative, owned and democratically controlled by its employees.

Equal Exchange is a founding member of the International Fair Trade Association (www.ifat.org) and a member of the Fair Trade Federation (www.fairtradefederation.org). Equal Exchange, along with Organic Valley/CROPP Co-operative, Farmer Direct Co-operative of Saskatchewan, and the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI-USA), is a member of the steering committee of the Domestic Fair Trade Working Group. For more information, visit www.equalexchange.coop/what-is-domestic-fair-trade.

Equal Exchange

Equal Exchange

Equal Exchange, founded in 1986, is the worker-owned and governed co-operative who pioneered the Fair Trade concept in the U.S. coffee industry. They have since successfully expanded their Fair Trade program into the tea, cocoa, chocolate, sugar and healthy snack categories. Equal Exchange products are sold and served in thousands of locations nationwide, including supermarkets, natural food stores, cafés, and places of worship. Overall they now trade with 40 small-farmer co-operatives around the world, including 2 in the United States. With $25 million in annual sales, and 100+ employees, Equal Exchange has grown to be the nation's sixth largest worker co-op. It is their mission to continue to grow the Fair Trade market, and to demonstrate the contributions and viability of democratic worker co-operatives.

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