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Coop Coffees AGM 2009
This year, the Coop Coffees crowd headed down to the land of taco stands, cowboy boots, and…BATS for our cooperative’s annual general assembly. Member-roaster Third Coast Coffee in Austin, Texas graciously hosted nearly 40 roasters and staff for a weekend of meetings, workshops, cuppings...and lots of coffee breaks.
Giving the "Doma fist"
Every year, there are a few opportune moments that our geographically-dispersed crowd – who span the continent from Santa Rosa Beach in Florida to Whitehorse in the Yukon – can get together to work through the nuts and bolts of our business, face-to-face. Seeing as there are so many nuts and bolts to address in one short weekend, the AGM agenda is packed pretty solid each year covering topics that range from new origins to roasters’ best sustainable practices to 
project reports and updates to the financial health of the coop. Sitting through meetings all day long for three day straight isn’t easy for anyone, no matter how much you like the people. So in an effort to incorporate more discussion between roasters during the meetings, the format was altered to include workshop sessions. The smaller groups allowed for more focused discussion and collective responses to key issues. Instead of using the AGM to simply transfer information to the membership, this year’s conversations and workshops opened the floor for some good, healthy roaster exchange.
Representatives from producer groups FECAFEB in Bolivia and La Asociación Chajulense, were able to join the discussions as well. It’s always eye-opening to hear the producers’ perspective on key issues like the direction of Fair Trade and pricing of the coffee. This year was no different as Miguel of Chajulense and Policarpio of FECAFEB shared their experiences as managers of small-scale farmer coops.
Aside from the daytime meetings, we got to experience a couple of the sights and wonders of Austin. Watching 1.5 million bats fly out from under a road traffic bridge was a weekend highlight…
and watching it all happen while floating in a kayak several yards from the bridge made it even more memorable. After our communal kayak/bat-watching expedition, we visited the enormous Whole Foods flagship store where the now massive organic grocery chain rose from humble beginnings. The weekend closed with a bang: a Texas-style BBQ followed by live jazz by a local artist. A big thanks to Third Coast for a fabulous celebration and for hosting our lively crew for the weekend!
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