Coast River Business Journal
BUSINESS NEWS
March 2021 • 13
Local businesses choose fair trade and direct trade
Story by Emily Lindblom
Coast River Business Journal
elindblom@crbizjournal.com
Several businesses on the North Coast are choos-
ing to source their coffee and cacao beans through fair
trade and direct trade to ensure the farmers who pro-
duce them are adequately paid and treated ethically.
Chocolate
Kelly Mauer, co-owner of the Cannon Beach
Chocolate Cafe, said she tries really hard to get fair
trade chocolate because the chocolate industry is
notoriously bad.
“There are millions of child slave labor every
year that get trafficked into the cocoa trade so we do
our best to not contribute to that in any way,” Mauer
said. “Human trafficking is just awful and who wants
to see slaves still in this world?”
Mauer researches every chocolate source she
uses so as not to support companies like Hershey’s
and Nestle that have made promises over the last 20
years to end their use of child labor but have missed
every deadline set for them to do so.
“A lot of the people we buy chocolate from also
support those communities where they have planta-
tions and they’re providing schools and hospitals,”
Mauer said. “They try to make the communities a
better place instead of making it a terrifying place to
live.”
The Chocolate Cafe sources its chocolate from
fair trade certified companies, using Guittard choc-
olate to make its truffles, ganaches and shells and
Cordillera for hot chocolates. The cafe also sells a
variety of fair trade bars from companies includ-
ing Zotter, François Pralus, Chuao Chocolatier and
Ritual, as well as local companies Wildwood from
Portland and Storyboard Delights from Longview,
Washington.
“Our chocolate is expensive because you get
what you pay for,” Mauer said. “You’re supporting
economies, schools and livable wages for people.”
Coffee
Of the different ways Columbia River Coffee
Roaster in Astoria buys its coffee, direct trade is the
most preferred method. The company strives to use
its direct relationships with producers to source its
green coffee beans.
Jon Reimer, director of coffee, said Colum-
bia River Coffee Roaster has a level of transpar-
ency through its transactions with the coffee farm-
ers themselves.
“We want to know where our coffee comes from,
and we want to buy it in a way that allows us to roast
delicious coffee that is also fair and sustainable for
the coffee growers, and for everyone along the sup-
ply chain,” Reimer said.
Historically, the coffee industry hasn’t neces-
sarily been fair to the growers, as commodity mar-
ket prices can result in prices that are unfair. But fair
trade certified coffees guarantee a minimum price to
pay the growers, and direct trade provides sustain-
COURTESY OF JON REIMER
EMILY LINDBLOM
Jon Reimer poses for a photo with the coffee roasting machines.
able prices to the growers and a connection between
the coffee and the people growing it.
More than half of the company’s coffee comes
through direct relationships, so more of its money is
going to producers with fair employment practices.
Columbia River Coffee Roaster maintains these
relationships with growers in Colombia, El Salvador,
Brazil, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania.
For some multigenerational family farms, younger
generations have come to the U.S. to sell coffee as
well.
“I’ve been to El Salvador and sampled a fresh
crop of coffee,” Reimer said. “There’s a whole rela-
tionship aspect and we can go visit them and try the
coffee right then and there.”
Reimer, who has worked with Columbia River
Coffee Roaster for about 17 years, said he’s worked
with many of the same farmers year after year,
including working with a man named Bruno Souza
and his family in Brazil for 15 years.
“Everything is different when you know who
you’re working with. You get to trust them and it
makes it more fulfilling having that level of con-
nection,” Reimer said. “It allows us to have a better
feedback loop and let them know how their coffee is
roasting and how we’re enjoying it.”
Jon Reimer holds freshly picked coffee beans
during a visit to a farm in El Salvador.
PHOTOS BY CAROLYN HOARD
Cannon Beach Chocolate Cafe sources its chocolate through fair trade.
Q: I am adding a few trees to my fruit orchard.
What do I need to know to get the best
production from my new and existing trees?
are a few important considerations. Select trees that will provide cross
A: Here
pollination. Consider mason bees to assist and avoid pesticides to encourage
native bees in the orchard. Select a sunny, well drained planting site with wind
protection and fencing from deer and elk. Prepare the soil by adding a fast-
acting garden lime and a generous amount of organic compost. This is all the
fertilization needed at planting; however, lime and nitrogen should be added
annually. Prune for a healthy canopy and stake young trees for stabilization. Our
bare root stock is here, as are mason bees! Varieties now available are listed on
our website: brimsfarmngarden.com.
34963 Hwy 101 Bus. • Astoria• 503-325-1562