What is Fair Trade Coffee?
The fair trade system for coffee distribution guarantees farmers and
workers receive a fair price for their product. By forming
cooperatives, fair trade coffee farmers get about $1.00 per pound for
their beans. While, under the conventional system entrenched with
middlemen, they get only 30¢ per pound. That extra
70¢ not only makes it possible for these small farmers to feed
their families but also build schools, churches and health care
facilities for cooperative members.
What makes Gesu a Fair Trade Coffee Parish?
The Social Ministry Committee coordinates providing the
parish with Fair Trade (and only Fair Trade) coffee for all meetings,
gatherings and events at the Parish Center, Cudahy Auditorium and in
Gesu Church.
Fair Trade Coffee helps Care for God’s Creation
Fair Trade coffee growers are committed to coexisting with
our environment rather than exploiting it.
- Organic coffee farmers view the entire farm as one
ecosystem. Farmers focus on recycling, composting and soil health
strictly avoiding the use of synthetic herbicides and dangerous
pesticides.
- Shade grown coffee is planted under the canopy of existing
forests. These forests provide shelter and food for migratory birds. It
also helps in soil conservation, as the trees prevent soil erosion and
the leaves and bird droppings provide soil fertilization.
- There are a variety of insects which can devastate
a
coffee tree plantation destroying not only that year’s
harvest, but the trees themselves. The tree canopy supports a wide
range of bird species which eat these insects and naturally control
this dangerous pest threat.
- A coffee tree takes about 5 years before it will yield a
crop (about a pound of coffee per tree annually). A typical tree will
last about 15 years. Shade grown trees will have a significantly longer
lifespan, yielding crops for up to twice as long as sun grown trees.
Our Invitation to All
We invite you to make your house a “Fair Trade
Coffee Home”! Buy Fair Trade coffee (the FTC logo seen at the
right
will be on the packaging) at your local market and live out the tenets
of our Catholic Social Teachings:
- the dignity of the human person
- the call to community
- the option for the poor and vulnerable
- the dignity of work and the rights of workers
- global solidarity
- the care for creation
Click
here
to find out where you can purchase Fair Trade coffee in the Milwaukee
area. Fair Trade has also gone mainstream and can be found conveniently
at many local supermarkets including:
Pick 'n Save, Sentry and Woodmans.
