 4/10 Good --- www.wickedlocal.com http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/rss
Wednesday, October 01, 2008 --- 53 days ago http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/x345115314/Horan-and-Bullock-help-Tra
 Fair Trade Certified products like coffee, flowers or tea are easy to find in Marshfield grocery stores and shops like Dunkin’ Donuts and Starbucks. But where do they come from? Two Marshfield residents, Tim Horan and Thomas Bullock, have taken on the cause of fair trade goods in their retirement, volunteering for TransFair USA. Bullock, a former chief executive officer for Ocean Spray, has been on the TransFair board of directors for five years and travels around the country attending meetings and visiting customers, including two trips to Central America. Bullock said the non-profit works with around 1.5 million farmers in 38 countries, who produce goods such as coffee, tea, flowers, cocoa, vanilla, rice, sugar and tropical fruits like bananas. By requiring certain standards for sustainable growing methods and appropriate forms of labor, TransFair finds a market in America for the farmers’ goods. Farmers also form co-ops, and buyers of Fair Trade Certified coffee pay seven cents extra per pound as a social premium, money that goes back to the co-ops, who then vote on how the money is spent. The money goes into projects like paying for doctors to come to the village, building schools or college scholarships, said Bullock. “We certify the farmer is meeting these standards,” he said. “If you’re a coffee seller in this country, you want to have evidence that farmers are following these standards, so we have people go to the farms a ... |
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