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Equal Exchange Honored by Business Ethics Magazine |
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Massachusetts Coffee Company Recognized as Pioneer of Fair Trade
CANTON, MA (Fri, 10/22/99) In recognition of our historic
commitment to equitable trade relations with Third World coffee
farmers, Equal Exchange, Inc. has been awarded the 11th Annual Business
Ethics award for Stakeholder Relations. The award, which will be
formally announced in the November/December issue of Business Ethics
magazine, acknowledges our path-breaking approach to fair trade,
defining producer welfare as part of business success.
"We are delighted that Business Ethics has recognized the value of our
alternative way of conducting business," said Rink Dickinson,
co-founder and co-director of Canton, Mass.-based Equal Exchange.
"Our stakeholders -- farmers, consumers, worker owners, investors,
retailers and religious organizations -- are what define Equal
Exchange," he said, adding, "we are indebted to them for our success."
Founded in 1986 by Dickinson and two others, Equal Exchange is a
worker-owned cooperative business whose mission is to build long-term
trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally
sound. Measuring our success much more broadly than profits
alone, the company fosters mutually beneficial relations between
farmers and consumers, and seeks to demonstrate, through our success,
the viability of worker cooperatives and fair trade. Certified
fair trade criteria include: purchasing directly from democratic
cooperatives; guaranteeing a minimum price to producers; advancing
pre-harvest financing; and, promoting environmentally sustainable
production methods.
Despite the competitive nature of the gourmet coffee industry,
Dickinson said the company has not had to sacrifice quality in pursuit
of its social and environmental goals. Writing in the June 1999
issue of Coffee & Cuisine, coffee expert Scott Reed cited Equal
Exchange's Organic Bolivian as "the best prepared coffee I have ever
seen from this origin... A balanced and flawless cup...
Definitely two thumbs up. Dickinson said Equal Exchange
collaborates with producers not only to mitigate the impact of the
fluctuating usually low international coffee prices, but also to
educate them on evolving consumer tastes and the demands of the
specialty coffee industry.
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