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Fifteen years ago I was fortunate to learn about an exciting new business that was starting in our community. I was lucky enough to share one of the first bags of freshly roasted coffee while chaperoning a school band trip with Debra Moore, one of the co-founders.
The story of how Just Us! got started is rather wild and wonderful. Unable to get any information on Fair Trade in Canada, Jeff Moore (Debra’s husband) jumped on a plane to Mexico in December, 1995. Ironically, he ended up in Chiapas which was in the middle of a civil war which was being fought over who should profit from coffee production.
Traditionally, indigenous communities in Latin America were given the “worst” lands, high in the mountains. As fate would have it, these ended up being the best places to grow good organic coffee. In the 1970’s, with the help of church development workers ,the communities had begun to form cooperatives and were increasingly able to process and export their own coffee without depending on the agents for the big coffee companies (called “coyotes”) who for generations had taken advantage of them. Now they were fighting for their right to organize their own businesses, trying desperately to improve their lives.. The government and the U.S. sided with the “coyotes” while BIG COFFEE tried to eliminate the small coffee farmers completely, labeling them 'rebels' and even 'communists'.
Jeff managed to get through the military road blocks and past all the huge trees cut down by the Zapatista rebels to block the movement of the army. He travelled far up into the mountains to the coffee growing areas. There he was able to see first hand the pride that the coffee farmers took in growing their coffee organically and the empowerment and dignity they derived from being members of a co-op. They said Fair Trade was the first thing that had given them real hope for a better future.
Jeff came home with “good news” and “bad news”. The good news was he had found a great Fair Trade co-op that would be thrilled to sell their coffee to Canada but the “bad news” was that he and Debbie would have to put their house up as security to finance a minimum shipment of 10 tons of coffee - without having a single customer. Still they didn’t really lose much sleep over the decision. They had such a strong belief in the combination of high quality shade grown coffee and Fair Trade that they plunged ahead and Just Us! has never looked back.
Today, I’m happy to report that I am watching the progress from the inside, having been employed by Just Us! in 2007. The co-op today looks very different from its original location in New Minas, but the heart and soul of the business remains. In addition to the Roastery and Head offices, we have four coffeehouses and a museum which help to spread the word about Fair Trade. There are over 70 employees and 12 worker
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owners now, including three of the founding members.
We have expanded from our core product of Fair Trade organic coffee to a line of Fair Trade Organic teas, chocolate and sugar. We also produce our own line of specialty chocolates at our facility in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia. But our primary business is still roasting over 3000 pounds of quality specialty coffee daily and distributing it across Atlantic Canada. To do this well, we maintain strong relationships with our farmer partners around the world and are always striving to create a better cup of coffee.
It’s wonderful to work for a socially conscious business that continues to educate and push its employees to grow. Since Just Us! is a co-op, it also provides a unique opportunity for employees to feel ownership of and pride in their work. Our mission statement is “People and the planet before profits”. From my vantage point, I think that we are headed towards a strong future.
Submitted by Kathy Day
Assistant to the CEO
Just Us! Coffee Roasters Co-op
With excerpts from a piece by Jeff Moore
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