First, a quick introduction. I’m Rob Everts, one of Equal Exchange’s co-presidents and a first-time guest blogger. Welcome to our new blog.
Two decades ago we started engaging Americans in how their food overseas was sourced and committed to building an alternative vision of international trade from the prevailing “race to the bottom.” This early attempt to give meaning to “fair trade” pre-dated even the entrance of “free trade” into the public dialog. Similarly, our capital model represented the idea of “slow money” before its time had come. In the same way we commit to long-term trade relationships with farmer co-operatives, we have sought long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with our investors.
When the current Equal Exchange capital structure was created, we knew that our model would not attract everyone, not even all who considered themselves socially responsible investors. For starters, there would never be a blockbuster return. Shares would not increase in value. Shareholders would not have a formal vote in the affairs of the business. Rather, they would share a seat at the table with other valued stakeholders to build an alternative to capitalism-as-usual. Farmers, consumers, Equal Exchange worker-owners, food co-ops, independent café and natural food stores, faith communities, investors… all of these constituencies joined together to play a critical role in enabling Equal Exchange to survive and ultimately thrive after its first decade.
And now, emboldened and yes, awed, by our 20 year vision adopted by the worker owners…
a vibrant, mutually co-operative community
of 2 million committed participants
trading fairly $1 billion dollars a year
in a way that transforms the world.
we move into the next chapter of the Equal Exchange experience. We are in uncharted territory. What we know for sure is we will continue to take risks and to more directly challenge the industrial food system over its central role in keeping millions impoverished around the world. We will also engage in political action where we believe trade or other policies negatively impact our farmer partners or perpetuate corporate control of agriculture.
One thing for sure is that we will need to collaborate with many other like-minded people and organizations to accomplish any of this. Looking forward to vigorous debate—and action—in the months and years to come.
This blog is about investing in Equal Exchange, cooperatives, and fair trade. It's both for the curious and for our current investment community. It's about how our coins, yours and mine, can forge our common wealth.
The shared vision among Equal Exchange investors and other stake holders communicated in the “Coin and the Common Wealth” Blog goes hand-in-hand with the campaigns and future political actions being lead by Equal Exchange that’s communicated in the “Small Farmers.Big Change.” Blog. In order to turn the tide in a positive direction for a fair, sustainable, and democratic food system, socially conscious purchases and investmests will need to be supplemented with other direct actions that influence government policies and pushes back against the multi-national corporations that control agriculture. I encourage readers of this Blog to also stay connected with the SFBG Blog at http://eecampaign.wordpress.com to learn more about other exciting ways we can “forge our common wealth” together.