A warm welcome during Cooperative Coffees delegation. Photo by Dean Cycon

Fair Trade, as a system, has met with its fair share of criticism: cheapened by corporate involvement, still doesn’t do enough to help farmers, hasn’t led to many measurable improvements, etcetera etcetera etcetera. Sometimes it can get a little depressing.

As a testimony to Fair Trade’s power to effect enormous good, however, there could be no better example than Ethiopia’s Oromia Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative Union (OCFCU). Established in 1999 with a membership of 22, 503 families, the cooperative has grown exponentially, with nearly six times its original numbers today. Its resources and capabilities have multiplied even faster, despite the ongoing environmental, political, and economic challenges Ethiopia faces as the world’s fourth-poorest nation and the center of a very rough neighborhood. (more…)