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.

Exser Thompson ranch – Chile

Because Chile is in the Southern Hemisphere, their fruit ripens during our winter making them a natural partner allowing us to offer high quality fruit year round. Chances are if you have been enjoying grapes, peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and blueberries this winter, they were grown in Chile. The growers and their farming practices in Chile are very sophisticated and we work hard to seek out top quality producers and feature products that are truly unique and different.

Chuck and Chris inspecting newly harvested red seedless grapes

The opportunity to visit our growers in person is invaluable to building a long lasting partnership. We are able to understand the challenges our growers face in regards to their specific climates and growing regions and the growers appreciate meeting us and are extremely proud to have their fruit featured in Whole Foods Market. Fernando DeBasa from Aldunate, a producer of our Rainforest Alliance certified grapes lives and works in the Coltauco Valley under the shadow of the Poqui Mountains. Fernanado’s grapes are special because of the people who grow them; some have been working with grapes for 40 years, passing their traditions and growing secrets along to successive generations. Guerino Gioia, an Italian immigrant, came to Chile via Argentina in 1930 and is said to have developed the first Chilean table grape destined for export; the Gioia family are proud producers of our Rainforest Alliance certified grapes. Andres Ureta of Exser is focused on efficient and earth-friendly farming practices for water and soil preservation and are devoted to farming Rainforest Alliance certified grapes in some of Chile’s most challenging conditions- mountain slopes and valleys.

Thompson Seedless on the vine

The varieties of grapes for our Rainforest Alliance certified program were chosen for big fruit size and sweet flavor. Our green grapes are primarily a Thompson seedless variety – an elongated grape that is plump and juicy. Thompson Seedless grapes have a yellow cast or straw color with a touch of amber when they are at their peak flavor.

Red grapes

Our red seedless grapes are a combination of Flame and Queen Red varieties which are both round grapes that are hard and crunchy and very sweet. Red grapes are best when fully colored and always picked ripe as they do not ripen further once off the vine.

Black seedless grapes

The black seedless grapes are primarily the Autumn Royal variety which is also very crisp and sweet, oval shaped and the purple-black skin has a whitish cast or bloom while the interior is an attractive, translucent yellow-green. We will be featuring these delicious Rainforest Alliance certified table grapes through March.

Chuck under the canopy

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.

Late last month two buyers came home super excited about a high brix (extra sweet) nectarine from Chile’s Rancagua region that we’re bring into stores this week. Here’s their report:

Rancagua is an ideal growing region for stone fruits because of wide, well defined valleys and temperate conditions influenced by high pressure along the Pacific Coast.

This year we’re featuring fruit from Juan Miguel Errazuriz, a second generation grower, whose family has been involved in farming for the past 250 years.

Errazuriz traveled the world for three years to research horticultural practices and technology before deciding on a type of fertigation system that supplies water and nutrients directly to the trees’ roots.

Now, Errazuriz is one of only a few growers in Chile who uses drip irrigation to control the root system and maximize flavor. Additionally, Errazuriz shortens his trees allowing greater sun penetration for more even maturity, enhancing the fruit’s natural sweetness.

We expect to have this exceptional piece of fruit in stores from mid-February through March. Enjoy!

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.

Over a year after the launch of the rose program, I am happy to report that the Whole Trade flower program continues to grow. Now, in addition to the roses (and calla lilies) from Ecuador, we have added Colombian product to the program!

We journeyed to Colombia to visit Rainforest Alliance certified flower farms last year (Rainforest Alliance is one of our certifying partners for the Whole Trade Guarantee). There we found another great fit for the program- a farm committed to quality, people and the environment. Working with this farm, we added gerbera daisies, alstromeria & spray roses to the Whole Trade offerings with mixed bouquets soon following.

Much like the Fair Trade roses and as a part of the Whole Trade program, we pay an additional percentage (called social premium) with each purchase of flowers we make. In Colombia, it is paid directly to local foundation providing health care, education and meals to the children of farm workers.

The foundation (the kids!)

The stories of the people behind these products are a constant reminder as to why this program is so compelling and so important. Just check out the pictures and quotes below. The social premium that Whole Foods Market has paid back to the communities producing our flowers – totaling over $200,000 since the launch of the program- is truly making a difference. This premium is in addition to the Whole Planet Foundation donation given with each retail sale …so this flower program is contributing to good things twice (three times if you count that everyone loves flowers!)

And the final super cool tidbit? As part of our Whole Trade Guarantee Month you can win Whole Trade Flowers for a year! 10 winners will receive a bunch of Whole Trade Flowers every month for a full year…all you need to do is enter online before March 4th, no purchase necessary…now how can you say no to that?

Here are some stories straight from Ecuador, enjoy and thanks for reading!

Alfredo Monta – farm worker on Fair Trade farm for 6 years

“To be able to work on a Fair Trade farm has permitted us to secure benefits that normally we wouldn’t have, for example, acquiring a hot water heater that allows us to heat water.

Before we have to heat water in a big pot to bathe ourselves, and since there are nine people in my household, we have to boil water many times, and could only bath at most twice a week. Now we have the hot water heater which is much better. We only have to watch that we don’t run out of gas in the tank and we have hot water all the time. We can bath every other day or every day if we want to.

Also, the people that had electric hot water heaters see a significant savings in their energy consumption, and are able to use the money that used to go to the electricity bill for other basic necessities of the family.

In our community there are quite a few people that work at Agrogana which is a Fair Trade farm. For that reason, the benefits are more palpable because we can observe how the quality of life for the people has improved with the different projects started by our joint body.”

Martha Chuquiana – farm worker on Fair Trade farm for 7 years

“The best benefit that we have received from Fair Trade is the capacity building given to our children in reading and English courses.

The English course for my daughter represents a higher level of learning for her, and through that we’ve seen a stronger commitment to her studies.

If we had to hire a private teacher, we definitely couldn’t have been able to do so, since money is limited for us. Thanks to the English courses, my daughter has been able to overcome a little bit her shyness.

In what we see as a benefit to the community, we have directly felt the work of the joint body that administers the premium as they work on community projects this year including donating desks to the school where our children attend. Not only the children of the workers of Agrogana which is a Fair Trade farm has benefit, but rather all the families that have a child in that school.”

Soraya Falcon – farm worker on Fair Trade farm for 6 years

“To work at a company that has Fair Trade certification has permitted me to improve my quality of life and that of my family.

Before (the Fair Trade premium), when I left work I arrived home to wash my families clothes on the rock (in the stream) every afternoon and eventually into the night. This caused me, in addition to physical exhaustion, pain in my hands from spending so much time with my hands in cold water.

I didn’t have much time to help my children with their homework because I was spending the afternoon washing clothes.

Now that we could acquire the washing machines, thanks to the Fair Trade premium, things have changed. I can spend my time with my family; I can help my children get their homework done and help them study, and the pain in my hands is gone, thanks to the fact that I don’t have to spend much time with them in cold water.

I think that not everyone can (access this benefit) due to the high cost of those washing machines, we achieve the purchase thanks to the micro-credit project that we have through the join body, and thanks to the premium that we receive for the sale of Fair Trade flowers.

In our community the people really didn’t have the possibility to access washing machines. Thanks to Fair Trade, we are the pioneers in improving our system of washing clothing, preserving our health in the future, and improving the quality of life of the whole family.”

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.

Highlights included a presentation by author and academic Michael Conroy on the future of coffee certifications, a barista latte art competition, a presentation by the Colombian Coffee Federation on the future of coffee traceability with their new high-tech Beantrack program, former Starbucks African coffee buyer, Mark Schonland on the successes and challenges for African specialty coffee, and a guest appearance by 2008 world barista champion, Stephen Morrissey. Other noteworthy events included a day trip to a farm near the event: Finca La Placer, which is a large producer of conventional coffee that incorporates many environmentally sustainable practices. To top it all off we visited a coffee theme park in Armenia with a museum, rides for the kids and a varietal coffee lab with many different cultivars of coffee.

For Allegro, the most important aspect of the weekend conference was our meetings with 8 different groups with whom we purchase coffee from. One of the most interesting meetings was with our Tanzanian supplier, Kanyovu, in Kigoma. We have been purchasing coffee from the cooperative for two years. Chris Thorns, Director of Green Coffee for Allegro, was just in Tanzania a little over a month ago and this recent meeting in Colombia was a chance to re-cap her trip, give them input about the coffee for this year’s harvest and to look to the future of the project. Our 3rd quarter Special Reserve was a huge hit as we partnered with the Goddall Foundation on this wonderful coffee from the western region of this east African country and we look forward to buying more in the coming years. We were able to meet with the chairman from the cooperative and discuss how things were going in his community and to build a plan towards future growth together. Click here to learn more about the event.

Finca La Rochela, Valle del Cauca, Colombia October 7th and 8th
Julian Duque the son of Luis Arturo Duque speaks to me about his father’s farm, “…our goal is to get our coffee to score a 90 and quality is the most important thing that we can hope to achieve.” Julian and his father and uncle are driven and have been organically producing coffee for 9 years and the farm has been producing coffee since 1990. But I am getting a head of myself here: at the close of Let’s Talk Coffee, there were optional field trips to visit various coffee related organizations in Colombia. The choice was easy since we already source from La Rochela. 17 folks from the U.S., Ethiopia, Mexico (members of our own Organic Mexican Zaragoza cooperative coffee), Brazil and Peru travelled from Armenia three hours by bus to the southern region of Valle del Cauca to see this organic coffee producer. La Rochela, just outside the quaint town of Trujillo has a population of 9,000 people and is known for coffee.

La Rochela’s coffee is uniquely processed and currently is used as a blend component in our popular Whole Trade Organic Espresso Sierra. Many coffees throughout Colombia do not fully ferment their coffees in tanks once they remove the cherry in order to break down the sticky substance known as mucilage so that the coffee does not pick up off flavors or mold. We tend to favor these fully washed coffees as they help to impart a brighter more sparkling cup profile. La Rochela uses a water conservation method which minimizes its naturally occurring spring water that runs throughout the farm and filters its waste water with rocks to absorb any bacterial matter which would affect nearby rivers and streams. In the future they are planning to purchase what is known as an aqua-pulper that will save even more water in the future.

The farm is not only organic certified, but also has Rainforest Alliance certification, which provides even more guarantee of social and environmental initiatives. They have five sub-divisions which each have on-site housing facilities that I found to be quite impressive in that they were clean, well built and provided all the necessities for excellent living quarters. In addition to coffee, they also raise their own cattle, plantain (which is inter-planted along with the coffee and an extensive compost program). The compost is re-applied to the coffee plants throughout the year to provide organic fertilizer through vermin-culture methods incorporating all waste from the farm, manure and the pulp from the wet mill. Those worms really are a miracle to the industry and now you see this practice has almost become commonplace on organic and conventional farms alike.

We had a full afternoon and it was starting to get dark as we finished our tour of the farm and made our way back to see the wet mill begin processing the day’s harvest. During the height of the harvest the mills will work throughout the night so that the coffees can ferment over night before the next step of drying the parchment. La Rochela is not only producing excellent quality coffee but it is also experimenting with new varietals, such as the famed geisha from Ethiopia, and tracking each of their plots by coffee varietal like an appellation system that is used in vineyard grape production throughout the wine world. The combined effect of good altitudes (over 1500 meters), excellent soil types, fertilization, La Rochela is redefining what organic coffee can be in Colombia. The Duque family has a beautiful farm and we at Allegro are proud to work with farmers who are committed to sustainable land use and quality in the cup.

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.

This was a deeply emotionally challenging trip, primarily due to the state of human condition and a testing of my commitment. Two weeks before I left for Togo on September 3, 2008, Togo was hit with major monsoon rains. The flooding that followed displaced more than 20,000 families, destroyed countless fields, and washed out a large bridge on the main north-south road – cutting off supplies and fuel to Togo and countries to the north. Escalating fuel and food costs had already put a strain on local economies, and these floods have made it even more difficult for families to feed themselves. With food a primary concern, families are not able to even think about the expense of sending their children to school. Before the huge increases in fuel and food prices, school was already a huge expense for the majority of Togolese families. Now, it has become even more difficult for them.

Line of vehicles waiting to pass over temporary bridge put up after flood waters destroyed the main bridge on Togo’s north-south highway.

Seeing the devastation in Togo caused by a combination of natural and economic disasters has only strengthened my resolve to improve conditions in my communities. The recent global economic crisis has only increased my commitment to continuing our community empowerment projects, since the impact is greatest on the world’s poorest.

I scheduled my visit to Togo in September to coincide with the arrival of the three containers of bicycles that we shipped in July. However, upon my arrival, the shipping company informed me that the containers had been delayed. They finally arrived after I had already returned to the U.S. This changed the focus of the trip to our education and health projects. With the help of the cooperative members, we built and donated table-benches to three extremely impoverished schools, donated school supplies to over 100 families in flood-affected areas, and visited the 40 women who are recipients of this year’s Fousena Fund for prenatal care. We also decided to sponsor a teacher for one village who had come together to build a school, but could not afford the salary for a teacher.

Olowo-n’jdo Tchala with the school and government officials at Koloumi for desk donations.

As part of our follow-up and to prepare for the arrival of this year’s bicycles, we met with past and future recipients of bicycles. The chief of Kinizao, one village that received bicycles from our previous shipment, remarked that teenage pregnancy is down in his village since girls were given bicycles. Students, too, read letters of appreciation for the bicycles, explaining how the bikes have helped them to continue and excel in school.

One great positive of this trip to Togo was to see how the Alaffia shea butter cooperative has empowered its members and their communities. Even in this time of economic difficulty, the cooperative members are able to feed their families, pay for school, and continue saving in their microcredit program. We were honored with a ceremony put on by over 15 villages – where cooperative members, village chiefs and community members expressed their thanks with dances and speeches. We are continually receiving requests to set up cooperatives in other areas of Togo, and met with various organizations producing handicrafts, coffee, and other indigenous goods. We hope to incorporate some of these into Alaffia in the near future.

During his visit, Olowo-n’djo met with this year’s recipients of the Fousena fund prenatal care.

These community projects continue only with the financial support of Alaffia customers and retailers who purchase Alaffia products. With each purchase, you directly support the salaries and empowerment of the members of our cooperative as well as our community projects. Some of you have also donated directly for special projects, especially for our donations to families affected by the September floods.

Recipient of school supplies donated by Alaffia. Over 20,000 families were forced from their homes by monsoon flooding in September. Flood waters were receding, but the destruction was still evident.

Thank you very kindly for these donations and your continued support of our products. I plan to return to Togo within the next six months for the distribution of the bicycles, and I will bring you more updates then.

Peace,
Olowo-n’djo

Learn more about how fairly traded, handcrafted Shea Butter benefits the communities that produce it as well as the communities that purchase it.