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Coop Sol Recruits Producer Members
On May 2, 2008, during a meeting which took place during the SCAA in Minneapolis, Coop Sol recruited five producer groups as user and support members to our solidarity cooperative. More producer groups are in the process of becoming members, as they meet with their own members and board of directors for discussion.
by Melanie Gagné
CoopSol, short for Coopérative de Solidarité du Café Équitable, is a solidarity cooperative. It was founded in 2006 in the goal of having a legal body in Canada for its Montreal staff. The solidarity coop structure was chosen to provide additionnal benefits to its members that could not be obtained with the structure of an economic coop (like Cooperative Coffees), or by that of a simple business structure. Those benefits are, for example, the low membership fee (50$), the possibility of having international members, the non-profit status of the coop, and the presence of more network opportunities by supporting Fair Trade groups in Quebec.
The main functions of Coop Sol are to ensure good communication between CoopCoffees, its roaster members, its producer partners and the general public, to guarantee good practises that reflect CoopCoffees’ vision of Fair Trade and to carry out the mechanics of green coffee’s supply and maintenance.
Coop Sol is composed of user members (roasters or producers that are linked to CoopCoffees), support members (CoopCoffees, for example) and worker members. The requirements to become a member of CoopSol are to be a Cooperative Coffees member or producer partner, to pay the symbolic investment of 50$ and to share a similar vision of solidarity and Fair Trade. 
The purpose of the gathering in Minneapolis was to introduce Coop Sol and its objectives to producers in order to invite them to join the group. Since the structure for producer members is not yet in place, Coop Sol wants producers to be involved from the start to help develop viable channels, tools and systems that would be most functional for them.
Producer involvement in Coop Sol includes both a political and a practical side, which means that they will be able to participate in discussions about Fair Trade in general and about coffee production, quality and roasting in practice.
The producers present at the gathering thought it was an interesting opportunity that could improve their relationships with the roasters who are buying their coffee. Their involvement in Coop Sol will also provide them with more detailed information about what is happening in the Fair Trade market and with their coffee in particular.
