UUSC’s Small Farmer Fund

UUSC's Small Farmer Fund supports partnerships between UUSC and small farmer cooperatives that grow, produce, and sell goods for fair trade.

The cooperatives are owned and managed by the workers and farmers, themselves! This way, workers retain control of their economic future.

Worker cooperatives are a powerful way to advance human rights. With cooperatives, farmers can improve their lives, as they work with other farmers and producers to develop business and leadership skills and make investments in their land, education, and local communities.

For every pound of fair trade products sold through the UUSC Coffee Project, a contribution is made to UUSC's Small Farmer Fund.

One of UUSC's partner cooperatives is the Southern Alternatives Agricultural Cooperative (SAAC), a pecan cooperative in southwest Georgia that produces shelled pecans and pecan candies for sale through fair trade. SAAC is the only African American-owned pecan shelling facility in the United States - and it is run by women.

The women who lead this cooperative are lifelong advocates who are determined to run a pecan-processing plant in a way that creates new business and jobs for workers, while strengthening local economies in southwest Georgia.

Another Small Farmer Fund cooperative is the Ecological Farmers from the Sierra Madre of Chiapas (CESMACH), a coffee cooperative in the Mexican state of Chiapas run by women farmers from 18 indigenous communities. CESMACH members learn leadership and management skills and gain strength and confidence from their new business associates. Together, they are finding new ways to support their communities.

Get involved in the UUSC Coffee project today and support UUSC's Small Farmer Fund.