In this episode, I traveled to Monroe, WI to visit the Klondike Cheese Company, one of the few feta producers in the United States that meets our Quality Standards. The Buholzer family has grown the company tremendously since they started making cheese in 1925. Our partnership with this family owned, third generation operation began back in 2002. Even though they are now a large company, they only work with 85 locally family-owned dairy farms and because the milk is fresh, the cheese is deliciously fresh too. My personal favorites include the Mediterranean feta and the feta with black pepper.

In this final installment of Dispatches from the Field, Steve visits the Pro Mujer

headquarters in Salta, Argentina and operations in Tucuman, Argentina, where Whole Foods Market sources blueberries.  His interviews with Pro Mujer clients, Pinky and Graciela, unveil the power of access to credit in their communities, where these women have been able to build support networks and find access to affordable healthcare services.

On this leg of his trip through South America, Steve explores Paraguay and opportunities for building a microcredit program in the country where Whole Foods Market sources its organic sugar cane.  Steve experiences the hospitality of folks who remember Phillip Sansone, Executive Director of the Whole Planet Foundation, from his days as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay over 30 years ago.

In this installment of Dispatches from the Field, Steve and Philip brave oxygen deprivation and “Death Road” (renowned as the most dangerous road in the world) to reach folks in the rural communities of Bolivia with Pro Mujer to provide financial services coupled with health and education.

Steve Wanta and Phillip Sansone of the Whole Planet Foundation meet with women entrepreneurs of Peru who have benefited from microloans from the Whole Planet Foundation. In less than one year, working with Pro Mujer, The Whole Planet Foundation has provided loans to over 1200 woman. This capital has allowed these entrepreneurs to grow their businesses, provide for their families and plan for the future in ways that were previously unavailable.

Here at Whole Foods Market, we are always driven by our Core Values, and that includes selling the highest quality products available, satisfying and delighting our customers and caring about our communities and environment. With those values in mind, Chuck Anunciation, one of our Produce Field Inspectors, and I recently visited Chile where we met our new Rainforest Alliance certified table grape growers and inspected their crop.  Grown in the San Felipe and Rancagua regions of Chile, we have partnered with the growers Exser, Gioia and Aldunate to feature the sweetest, most flavorful grapes available while ensuring their farms protect soils, waterways, wildlife habitat and the rights and welfare of workers, their families and communities. What a strong connection with our Core Values.

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]When we’re in the dead of winter here in the U.S., Chile is at the height of their summer season and summer fruit is in full production. (California stone fruit makes its first appearance much later this spring.) If you’re looking for a taste of sunshine in February, read on!

On the produce team we’re always looking for the best fruit available in the market. Our favorite deals are those where we know the grower and have seen the fruit in production across multiple seasons. For the past two winters, Whole Foods Market buyers have trekked to Chile to learn more about the products and people of a country that provides so much summer fruit to our hemisphere when we’re out of season. Read the rest of this entry »

Carol Medeiros joined Whole Foods Market in 2001 at our Cherry Creek store in Denver and has been working on our produce and floral team ever since.

You may remember Karen’s Whole Trade roses post from last summer, sharing the story of the Ecuadorian Fair Trade certified flower farms that supply our Whole Trade Guarantee roses. Well, with Valentine’s Day right around the corner, what better time to share an update on Whole Trade flowers with you?

I was one of the Team Members to visit the Ecuadorian farms. I look back on these trips & consider myself lucky to have been a part of them – such a beautiful country, incredible product, wonderful people and inspiring stories. Read the rest of this entry »

Darrin Daniel, Allegro Green Coffee Buyer

Armenia, Colombia October 2nd thru 6th

The 6th Annual Let’s Talk Coffee has just ended in the beautiful southern coffee region of Armenia, Colombia. One of our most unique coffee supply partners, Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers, organizes this event in different coffee producing countries in Latin America in order to bring together coffee farmers, exporters, importers and roasters from all over the world. The goal is to find a common language to help support the entire specialty coffee supply chain. This year nearly three hundred attended from twenty countries; the theme was “Certified Quality” and people from as far away as Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil represented their coffee producing nations.  For Allegro, this represents a golden opportunity to meet one-on-one with our supply partners, hear their concerns, share our accomplishments and further understand what the relationship between farmer and roaster means. Each year the event has grown and thanks to the hard work of Sustainable Harvests staff, this year was extraordinarily successful.

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This post comes to us from Olowo-n’djo Tchala, Founder of Alaffia Sustainable Skin Care. Olowo-n’djo grew up in poverty in Togo, Africa, and has dedicated his life to empowering communities in Africa. Here, Olowo-n’djo writes about his most recent trip to Togo.

I would like to begin by thanking all of you that have either directly or indirectly supported us and made our projects possible. It is clear that without your support, our commitment to bettering lives in Togo would not be possible. My main intentions for this post are to thank all of you for your support and to take the opportunity to tell you about my most recent trip to Togo and Ghana.

Son of Alaffia cooperative member dances as part of ceremony honoring the cooperative and its efforts in central Togo communities.

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