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CoopCoffees' AGM 2008
Roaster members and staff of Cooperative Coffees gathered at Higher Grounds’ recently inaugerated café and roastery in the beautiful lakeside town of Traverse City, Michigan from Oct 2 - 5 for the Annual General Meeting of Members. The three-day weekend was action-packed with coffee cupping, discussion and debate around the internal politics of pricing and positions within Fair Trade, as well as clarifying the functions and responsabilities of staff and member alike.
Group shot outside HG's roastery
With the annual assembly’s being one of the only opportunities during the year that the majority of roaster members sit together under one roof, it is a golden opportunity to create a meeting of the minds. But true to CoopCoffees’ style, it couldn't be all work and no play; we also found time to eat, chat, and laugh throughout the weekend... we were even able to sneek in a wine-tasting at the local winery conveniently located next door to Higher Grounds’ roastery (after our meetings were adjourned for the evening, of course)!
At this year’s meeting, we had the honor of hosting representatives from two producer groups.
Rigoberto Contreras Díaz from long-standing producer partner MICHIZA in Oaxaca, Mexico. Rigoberto reinforced the group’s commitment to CoopCoffees and gave promising reports of the expected quality and yields of their future crop.
Don Rogelio Suriano, farmer and president of CC’s newest partners, ACOES, traveled from El Salvador with Oscar Ortiz, working in technical support and as a research assistant with Prof. Ernesto Mendez - responsible for our original contact with ACOES. Rogelio and Oscar provided CoopCoffees with helpful insight into the history and current reality of their cooperative and demonstrated great enthusiasm for the successful first export of their coffee this past year to CoopCoffees. Roasters at CoopCoffees are equally enthusiastic for the new relationship with ACOES’ and for presenting their fine coffee in their markets. This is clearly just the beginning of what we all hope to be a fruitful and mutually beneficial relationship!
While the rest of the group headed back home and back to business-as-usual, the "party" had only just begun for the producer reps. After witnessing and participating in three intensive days of CoopCoffees' meetings, Don Rogelio and Oscar made their way to warmer territories: Americus, GA to spend a few days with the Cafe Campesino and then on to Santa Rosa Beach, FL to take part in a number of activities alongside Amavida.
Rigoberto had quite the busy post-AGM schedule as well! He spent the following week visiting with solidarity groups in Illinois and New York associated with Catholic Relief Services -- a close ally of Cooperative Coffees. Rigoberto ended his tour with the crew at Just Coffee, Madison, WI.
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USFT 2008 International Convergence
