Berkshire Co-Op Market Supporting Cashew Farmers
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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Word has it that the Aprainores Cashew Co-op in El Salvador grows the tastiest cashews in the world. Sweet, creamy and delicious, they are considered the cream of the crop by many and are in demand from fair trade distributors worldwide.
Unfortunately, just a few years ago they almost went out of business.
Berkshire Co-op Market in Great Barrington is teaming up with Equal Exchange, a national leader in fairly traded food, to create a pilot project that aims to make sure that doesn’t happen. The fund will seek donations from 10 values-based food stores that will all be matched by Equal Exchange. Berkshire Co-op Market, the first to commit, has donated $5,000 so far and will introduce a customer incentive program in October to donate more.
How does a farmer co-op with such a great product come so close to failure? Unfortunately, that’s how it goes with small farmers sometimes. It doesn’t take much. In the case of Aprainores, it was a negligent manager that put them in massive debt and out of the ordinary winds that killed a season’s crops. Luckily, the co-op of 55 farmers is strong. And after years of recovery, they have reversed the trend. But they are still in debt and they still can’t invest in increased production. Which means, when stores like the co-op come calling, their customers don’t get to enjoy those incredible cashews as often as they would like.
Enter Equal Exchange. Already a distributor of small farm origin coffee, chocolate, tea, bananas and avocados, the worker owned co-op is expanding into dried fruits and nuts. For cashews, they got involved with Apainores with the hope of getting their whole supply from them. However, supply didn’t meet demand and they now also work with a cooperative in India for cashews. Eager to both see Apainores succeed and to have the ability to buy more of their delicious cashews, Equal Exchange set out to find a way to support them and help them grow. he Grow Together Fund is part of that plan.
Berkshire Co-op Market was approached by Equal Exchange earlier this year to talk about this idea. At the end of the meeting an agreement had been reached. The Co-op would donate $5,000 to the fund and Equal Exchange would match that donation. Additionally, there would be a customer participation aspect planned to raise more funds and educate customers about the program. Equal Exchange would then attempt to recruit nine more co-ops and like-minded stores to join in with a goal of $100,000 raised.
“We approached Berkshire Co-op because we knew that they are a business that is driven by their values, values that align with our mission and way of doing business,” said Becca Koganer of Equal Exchange. “They care deeply about their local and global community, and it reflects in the way they operate, especially in the care that goes in to their sourcing. We knew they would understand the need for this project, the historical context of the area, and would be excited to share this story with their members. For all these reasons, we weren't surprised that they were the first co-op to join on to this project.”
“We talk a lot about small farmers in this area,” said Matthew Novik, communications manager at Berkshire Co-op Market. “That talk, however, is usually focused on local and not on the plights of small farmers worldwide. The truth is, we need to pay attention to it all and the Grow Together Fund does just that in a direct and measurable way. It feels great to know that the work we do will help these farmers create security for themselves and their families.”
Novik went on to add that the customer participation aspect is a way for Co-op customers to get involved. For the months of October, November and December the store will donate 2 percent of all Equal Exchange product sales to the fund. And, once again, that donation will be matched by Equal Exchange.
“Equal Exchange sells great products in a number of categories,” Novik said. “And they are all produced, distributed and sold within a fair model that is second to none.”
All of the funds raised will be donated directly to Aprainores for a tree-planting project that will create higher yields which will lead to more stable income for the co-op’s farmers and greater availability of the world’s best cashews for retail establishments like Berkshire Co-op Market to share with their customers.
