Last year an article in the Economist pointed out some of the complexities and contradictions within the organic, Fair Trade, local food movement. The article is well written and provocative, but is it accurate? My attention was particularly drawn to statements made my Norman Borlaug, father of the Green [...]

The Agroinnovations Podcast is turning to the issue of Fair Trade, focusing on fairly traded coffee to address some of the issues that the Fair Trade movement now faces. It has been almost 20 years since Fair Trade pioneers and social justice advocates started with an idea. And surely, [...]

A recent post in greenlagirl.com has rekindled a dialogue that she and I initiated about 4 months ago: Why isn't most coffee (organic, Fair Trade or otherwise) roasted and packaged in the country of origin? My argument has been that in some cases cooperative groups are roasting their coffee locally, as [...]

 Gran Cafe is produced by a cooperative of organic coffee farmers in the Dominican Republic. For the past 10 years the cooperative has dedicated itself to developing the techniques and practices necessary for sustainable coffee production. Managing several hundred small farmers is no small [...]

The map can be viewed by clicking here. I originally posted this map in my last Challenge article, but the link was buried in the body of the article. This map is for those of you who are following the challenge and want to get a quick view of the countries [...]