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Fair Trade and Fair Politics in Guatemala

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If you are in or around the Madison area, please come to this event!

The Guatemalan Dream: Fair Trade and Fair Politics
DESGUA Speaker in Madison
Monday, March 15th
5:30-7:30pm
Speaker presentation, follow up conversation, and potluck dinner
Centro Hispano of Dane County
810 W. Badger Road

Speaker Omar Mejia will discuss DESGUA’s work to create economic development and alternatives to immigration for rural Guatemalan communities through fair trade. A conversation will follow to exchange information and ideas.

This event is part of a nation-wide speaking tour organized by DESGUA (Economic Development for a Sustainable Guatemala/ Desarrollo Económico por una Guatemala Sustentable) to strengthen a network of solidarity among Guatemalan migrant communities, community coops in Guatemala, and supporters in the United States.

DESGUA is working to cultivate a relationship between Guatemala’s producer community and U.S. markets to generate a sustainable and dignified way of life so that immigration in exchange for food is not the only option.

Event Speaker: DESGUA member Omar Mejia is an agronomist who has worked for more than 4 years providing technical support in various organic farming projects such as organic coffee and livestock. He has worked with Café Conciencia to market products with organic and Fair-trade principles within a network of fair-trade conferences and educational workshops.
DESGUA: is composed of Cafe Conciencia(Guate), Santa Anita La Union(Guate), Grupo Maya K’iche(U.S./Guate), Grupo Cajola(U.S), and the Canary Institute(U.S)

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US Priest helps Guatemala by buying coffee.

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US priest buys high, sells low to help Guatemalan coffee growers


GUATEMALA-COFFEE Sep-9-2009
By Ezra Fieser
Catholic News Service

SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, Guatemala (CNS) — In the 17 years since he started buying coffee from the hundreds of families who farm the hills overlooking Lake Atitlan, Msgr. Gregory Schaffer has seen the coffee industry’s highs and lows.

The market peaked in the late 1990s and crashed in the early 2000s, causing thousands of farmers to abandon their lands and migrate in search of work.

None of that affected the farmers selling to Msgr. Schaffer, a priest of the Diocese of New Ulm, Minn., who has worked in the San Lucas Mission for nearly 47 years.

While small coffee farmers throughout Latin America have struggled to make ends meet growing the world’s second-most-traded commodity — behind petroleum — the indigenous coffee growers of San Lucas Toliman have received superior prices from Msgr. Schaffer.finca1big

The $2.10 per pound they are paid is double what they might receive selling to middlemen and about 35 percent more than they would receive by selling both fair-trade and certified-organic beans.

“We started this not by looking at the market. We started by asking the farmers what they thought their coffee was worth,” said Msgr. Schaffer, 74. “We asked, ‘How much do you need to have a decent life?’ That’s how we set our price.”

Despite producing some of the world’s best coffees, small growers in Guatemala and throughout Central America largely live in impoverished conditions, mainly due to the low prices they receive for coffee.

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