Today I start a new section of the blog in which I will tell you about cooperatives from around the world. Nowadays we all hear about globalization and the international corporate mentality. I think it’s good to point out that community efforts to make the world a better place have been around longer than most corporations, and should get the recognition they so deserve.
And there is no better place to start than at the very building where OAS Staff FCU is located. At 1889 F St NW in Washington there are not one but two cooperatives. One is well known, our Credit Union. The other is our breakfast and after-lunch buddy, Juan Valdez.
In 1946 they created the Colombian Ocean Freight Merchant Fleet. By launching their own fleet the cooperative was able to remove the middleman, thus gaining on their exports; this has been a common cause for the creation of cooperatives around the world, the abuse that farmers and small manufacturers have suffered at the hands of sales agents. This fleet also opened up new routes for the direct distribution of their coffees worldwide.
In 1954 they also started their own cooperative bank (which, while similar, was not a credit union): El Banco Cafetero. This institution was created with the purpose of facilitating and financing the production, harvesting, processing, transport and exporting of coffee and other agricultural product (source: Wikipedia). In time it became the third largest bank of Colombia.
They also created their own insurance group, because they were dissatisfied with the abusive rates charged by national insurance companies for the storage and transportation of coffee.
They are also the people responsible for the creation in the late 50s of the icon of Juan Valdez, the man with the mule that has become the ambassador of Colombian coffee around the globe.
All in all, this cooperative has single-handedly put Colombian coffees on the map, and has got them to the top. As of now Colombia is the world’s largest producer of coffea arabica, the most consumed coffee on the planet. They represent the interests of some 500,000 individual coffee farms in their country.
In order to sell their coffees on a retail scale around the world, the Federation created a corporation in 2002; that is Juan Valdez Café as you know it today. This company, while incorporated, has strong values for community, the environment, and sustainable environment. They invest in forest protection programs, bird migration pattern maintenance, and the reduction of the environmental impact of coffee production. Most people don’t know this, but Colombia was the first country to charge a tax on their coffee to help clean up the pollution that the coffee production process creates. For a while their coffee was a bit more expensive than other countries but over time the logic of this tax was accepted and has now been implemented by other coffee growing nations.
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| A Juan Valdez Café Photo by John Lamm |
Additionally, when you go to Juan Valdez you will notice the unique hand-made packaging of many of their coffees and other products. That is because the company makes a point of hiring Colombian artisans for the construction of packaging materials and weaved baskets made of jute, plantain fibers and other local materials.
To me, Juan Valdez is a great example of what people working together for the good of everyone can achieve. That is the point of the cooperative movement worldwide.
So, next time that you go get coffee and the choice is between a Seattle corporation and our corner coop café, I hope you will make the more conscious choice.
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