Profile: The Chef's Collaborative

Navigating your local food market can be difficult in the face of so many options. If your goal is to support restaurants that embody social and environmental principles that you care about, look no further than the Chef's Collaborative.
The mission of The Chef's Collaborative is to:
"...work with chefs and the greater food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. The Collaborative inspires action by translating information about our food into tools for making knowledgeable purchasing decisions. Through these actions, our members embrace seasonality, preserve diversity and traditional practices, and support local economies."

The Chef's Collaborative
The Chef's Collaborative: Portland Chapter

Augusto Dias of Nossa Familia Coffee on Sustainable Coffee Production

Portlander Augusto Dias has grown up in the coffee industry. His family's coffee farm in Brazil grows and roasts quality arabica beans with an Utz Kapeh certification and demonstrated sustainable practices. Visit the official site of Nossa Familia Coffee at www.familyroast.com

Read an interview with Augusto from the Portland Tribune:


TeamWorks' Matt Gerber Travels to Ethiopia Coffee Farms

In July 2006, TeamWorks International founder and CEO Matt Gerber visited coffee farms in one of the world's most famous coffee growing regions: Sidamo. Watch a clip from his travels.


The mission of Completing the Circle is to complete the circle of awareness back to the people and
places that produce our products.
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Premiums Increase for Fair Trade Certified Coffee

3/21/07— TransFair International and the Fair Trade Labeling Organization (FLO) have increased the premium paid to coffee farmers on certified fair trade and organic coffee. This move raises the price paid for green, unroasted fair trade coffee from $1.26/lb to $1.31/lb. Find out more at www.transfairusa.org

Farmer's Markets Set to
Re-open in the Pacific Northwest

There is no better way to complete the circle than to purchase directly from the producer. The farmer's market provides a great opportunity to support your community and to ensure that your food purchases reflect your vision for a healthier, more sustainable economy. Find a farmer's market near you at The Oregon Farmer's Market Association.


 


Get Involved: Complete the Circle Yourself

Interested in volunteering on a trip with TeamWorks either in Oregon or abroad? Download a Personal Inventory Form (pdf) and send it in. There are opportunities on group trips to Nicaragua and India, exploratory trips to places TeamWorks is not currently involved in, as well as Completing the Circle awareness trips.
Input for Future Completing the Circle Workshops

Let us know what products you would like to know more about for future Completing the Circle events. If there is a specific product that you buy regularly and want to know what you can do to be a responsible consumer, email the Completing the Circle Project Coordinator.

We're currently working on the next Completing the Circle workshop, so send us your ideas soon!
Completing the Circle is focused on making our economy more transparent through connecting people. Our goal is to create awareness in our communities, so that together we can more effectively choose products that contribute to bringing social justice and environmental responsibility to the forefront of the national and global marketplace. We focus on three categories that help us navigate the market:

Completing the Circle: Local
»This stamp indicates an article that addresses local food systems and economic issues in the Pacific Northwest. Local communities are actively engaging sustainable production models, providing new opportunities to close the gap between producer and consumer. The mission of Completing the Circle is to complete the circle of awareness back to the people and places that produce our products. Supporting local markets is the most effective way to fulfill this mission.

Completing the Circle: Global
»Completing the circle on a global scale presents many challenges. Our goal is to provide stories and opportunities that allow each of us to explore global trade and attempt to bring transparency and insight into a complex system of exchange. The complexity of the global market masks the human connection that our products represent, each of them cultivated or crafted by an individual. Paying attention to what we purchase and purchasing products that represent change communicates that we have not forgotten the human and environmental impact of the global economy.

Completing the Circle: Certifications
»Certifications, such as Fair Trade and Organic, exist to communicate that the products that bear the label of such certifications meet requirements that consumers care about. These include assurances of social premium prices, environmental stewardship, and democratically run workplaces. Certifications help individuals navigate market choices by ensuring that the product in question was produced in a manner consistent with the individual's desire for a more sustainable economy.
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