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Producer Tours
An integral part of the relationship between CoopCoffees and its producer-partners is getting to know each other's context and country. Members of CoopCoffees often take visits into the various coffeelands where producers live and work and producer-partners gladly reciprocate by making the journey north to get an idea of where their coffee goes and is sold. In this section, you can read up on some of the various Producer Tours that have taken place recently.
Post-AGM: ACOES travels South
While the rest of the Cooperative Coffees' gang headed back home and back to business-as-usual, the "party" had only just begun for our producer representatives. After witnessing and particiating 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 crowd and then Santa Rosa Beach, FL to take part in a number of activities alongside Amavida.
Post-AGM: Rigoberto of MICHIZA hangs out with Just Coffee
Rigoberto had quite the busy post-AGM schedule as well! He spent the week following the AGM with a couple of different groups associated with Catholic Relief Services -- a close ally of Cooperative Coffees. Flying to Chicago, then New York City, then back to Chicago and onto Madison, Rigoberto was quite the jet-setter in those few days. He wound up his trip with the folks at Just Coffee.
Canadian Tour with Santiago 
Coinciding with the Fair Trade Weeks, or La Quinzaine du Commerce Équitable, as it is known in Quebec, Cooperative Coffees organised a small producer tour that took place from May 6th to May 10th. Santiago Paz Lopez, the founding manager of CEPICAFE, and long time Coop Coffees partner based in northern Peru, visited several of our Canadian members to talk about his experiences in Fair Trade and his vision for the future of the movement.
Santiago Paz Lopez Presentation on Fair Trade
Below is my recapitulation of Santiago’s presentations that were given during the producer tour in Canada. It is not an exact transcript of his speeches, but rather a summary of what he said, restated to the best of my memory. Read on to learn his vivid descriptions of the significant impacts Fair Trade has had on the communities of Northern Peru, and to read his thoughts on the mainstreaming of the Fair Trade movement.
Mid West Producer Tour Report
Within the framework of the SCAA’s annual meeting and conference in Minneapolis in May 2008, three Cooperative Coffees members, namely Peace Coffee, Kickapoo and Just Coffee, organized a producer tour in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The purpose of this visit was to reduce the gap between consumers and producers by building relationships and understanding through roasters. The delegation of producers got to visit roaster members’ operations, ask questions, share opinions and discuss Fair Trade benefits with consumers and members of Coop Coffees.
