Press Releases

TransFair USA Connects Its "Roots" To Minneapolis At World's Largest Coffee Event

100 coffee producers, 13 licensees, 33 staff members and one Fair Trade Hero promise to make strong statement in favor of Fair Trade Certified™

Oakland, CA (April 28, 2008) -Since its inception in 1998, TransFair USA has been a trail blazer for empowering small-scale coffee producers to engage in the global marketplace. Today, the nation’s only independent, third-party label for Fair Trade CertifiedTM products keeps itself firmly rooted in coffee, and promises to drive home this point at the 2008 SCAA conference at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minn.

SCAA is vital to the success of Fair Trade Certified in the United States and where Fair Trade Certified producers make key industry contacts and sales. This is the only trade show in which TransFair USA hosts an all-day Producer Forum. One hundred TransFair USA-hosted coffee producers will have traveled from their respective homes in Africa, Latin America and Asia to convene on Thursday, May 1 with TransFair USA leaders to dialogue directly with industry representatives. This direct access at SCAA enables producers to build on their business network, leading to opportunities to increase their market and ultimately enabling the farmers to invest in their farms and communities.

Product trends emerging at this show include:  more single-origin Fair Trade Certified coffee SKUs from companies such as Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and exclusively Fair Trade Certified coffee lines from coffee roasters such as Thanksgiving Coffee, Peace Coffee and Dean’s Beans. New sustainability initiatives from mainstream companies such as Wal-Mart, who is engaged with Oromia Coffee Cooperative in Ethiopia, will encourage and support sales of more Fair Trade Certified coffee than ever before. In addition, tea licensees such as Choice Organic will exhibit new lines of gourmet Fair Trade Certified teas in pyramid sachets, pushing the envelope on quality.

Fair Trade Certified coffees are also proving their mark on quality. In 2007, 12 Fair Trade Certified coffees from specialty roaster licensees earned a mark of 90 or greater from the 2007 Coffee Review, with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Kenyan Highland Cooperatives and Allegro Coffee Company’s Rwanda Karaba both earning a rarely-seen high score of 96.

Honoring a Fair Trade Hero
On Friday, May 2, TransFair USA will honor Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie with the Fair Trade Hero Award. Through his leadership with the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Mark Ritchie made one of the most significant contributions to the Fair Trade movement in the US by envisioning and founding TransFair USA in Minnesota in 1996. The award will be given at the Minneapolis Club from 8-9:30 a.m.

About TransFair USA
TransFair USA is the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade Certified products in the United States. TransFair USA audits and certifies transactions between U.S. companies offering Fair Trade Certified products and their international suppliers to guarantee that the farmers and workers producing Fair Trade Certified goods were paid fair prices and wages. TransFair USA certifies coffee, tea, herbs, vanilla, cocoa, chocolate, rice sugar, bananas, flowers and honey.

Contact:
Anthony Marek
PR director, TransFair USA
510.663.5260 ext. 346
amarek@transfairusa.org