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New Frontiers for
Buying Well and Being Well
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| Cooperation Among
Cooperatives ... Fair Trade Report series |
by Ruth Ann Smalley
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With a long history of
concern for quality products, employee well-being, and a healthy
planet, it's no surprise that Frontier Natural Products Co-op has been
working hard to set up sustainable partnerships with small farmers
worldwide. As I noted in the May issue of the Scoop, Frontier offers
several Fair Trade certified teas from farmer co-ops. In addition to
their vanilla, Frontier is also introducing 16 spices from Sri Lanka
that are organic and Fair Trade certified.
"This is a long term goal," says Kathy Larson, Frontier's Vice
President of Sustainability and Education. "Now about 65% of our total
product pounds is organic, and we're working on bringing it up to 100%."
Frontier has found that with their product line, however, relying on
organic and Fair Trade certification doesn't always meet all their
needs and values. This is why they also created their own sourcing
program, called Well Earth.
Well Earth allows them to "work with small farmers to achieve organic
and sustainable production, share our knowledge and expertise to
maximize quality, and support their communities by paying fair market
prices and funding community projects."
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I
recently spoke with Kathy Larson and Kai Stark, the Organic Spice
Commodity Manager, about where this program fits into their product
profile. They explained that while it shares many of the
characteristics of organic and Fair Trade certification, they see Well
Earth as going beyond both those sets of requirements. There's
sometimes a limited supply of Fair Trade certified herbs and spices,
and at times, the organic certification does not guarantee the quality
of the product they wished to carry.
For example, certified organic ginger may have been sulfited without
having been labeled as such. And some products come from sources that
Kai Stark describes as something he "wants to run away from" when he
sees it, such as "certified organic black pepper from a giant,
high-intensity plantation that is not sustainable." Well Earth
emphasizes product safety and quality, as well as sustainable
production practices.
The Well Earth program is working with suppliers in India, Sri Lanka,
Guatemala, Australia, Germany, and Washington state. "We're looking for
suppliers who have an interdependence with processors and farmers," Kai
stated, "so that they have a vested interest in the farmers bettering
their standard of living."
These relationships take care and attention to cultivate--Kai is out in
the field six to seven times a year, meeting with suppliers and
visiting farms. He was preparing to head out for Turkey and Egypt when
we spoke. He described how Frontier wants to maintain long term
relationships with these sources, looking for five- to ten-year
partnerships. also helps people start new crops for them, but "we don't
tie them only to us," Kathy notes. An additional advantage they are
beginning to realize, is that as these partnerships develop, Frontier
is beginning to be able help share ideas for best practices from their
various locations.
Kathy and Kai recently visited India, to see the work of Akshaya Patra,
an Indian charity they have partnered with. The charity supplies daily
school lunches to over 900,000 children, and Frontier has helped them
with $20,000 toward the purchase of a special meal delivery truck.
They also toured tribal spice farms. There they noted the productivity
of the small farmers, who are growing both spices and their own food
crops. "The farms are intercropped. It looks like a jungle, with 20–24
crops growing on the same land," Kathy told me.
Frontier's Simply Organic sales fund dedicated nearly $30,000 for
education for 790 Indian farmers, and Frontier continues to ask for
proposals for grants. "We have more money set aside thus far than we
get proposals for" says Kathy. "We look at the merits, but we haven't
had to be as strict about guidelines yet." Kai described how he had
been amazed by the values of small farmers who, by American standards,
have next to nothing, and yet who care so much for the land. They may
have initially begun farming organic for extra money. "But later they
realize how much better it is for health and for future generations."
Kathy suggests some customer values that can help support the job the
farmers are doing: "Thinking about where food comes from and knowing
it's produced in a manner good for the earth and for people; buying
from sources where you can trace where that came from, put a face to
that; eating in a way that's mindful."
Honest Weight carries over 60 different organic herbal supplements,
spices and teas in the Bulk section of our Wellness Department. These
range from slippery elm bark to crystallized ginger to rosemary, and
include several kinds of jarred peppercorns, sold in a container that
grounds the peppercorn on site for ultimate freshness.
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For
further information: www.frontiercoop.com.
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