Happerley & Showcasing Fairtrade

On Wednesday I spoke at the launch of Happerley Transparent at Cotswold Farm Park which is owned by the BBC Countryfile presenter Adam Henson. Happerley is an organisation whose mission is to make the origins of all food and drink fully transparent so consumers know where they come from. Happerley Transparent is all about delivering that mission and creating a credible and trusted means of validating food and drink. The Happerley founder Matthew Rymer and Adam also spoke at the event which was attended by a range of suppliers, food organisations and the media.

At the launch, I said we were proud to have supported Happerley since they were launched five years ago and that now our Bourton food store would be the first in the world to trial Happerley Transparent. The project enables consumers to use their mobile phone to find out the origin of any product which has been validated by Happerley.  All consumers have to do, is to download the Happerley Transparent app and then scan the relevant QR (Quick Read) code to find out about the origin of their food and drink.

After the launch at Adam’s farm, those attending went to our Bourton food store where they saw the technology in action for themselves with a variety of our Best of Our Counties local suppliers including Hobbs House bakery, Jess’s Ladies Organic Farm Milk and Cotswold Distillery. There I had the pleasure of bumping into Paul and Olivia Birch of Revolver coffee, one of our great Fairtrade brands. Following this, there was a lively question and answer session back at the farm which was attended by representatives from Energy, Childcare and CSR. We will be monitoring the live trial with a view to looking to roll out the technology at more of our stores in the future.

Whilst at the Happerley launch at Bourton Food Store I bumped into Paul and Olivia Birch of Revolver Coffee

The Association of Convenience Stores(ACS) at the House of Commons

Also on Wednesday Tarra Simmons, our General Manager Co-operative Social Responsibility, spoke at the launch of a local shops report by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) at the House of Commons. The ACS is a trade association representing 33,500 local shops on high streets and rural communities and the report outlines what needs to be done to keep rural shops open and how to boost the rural economy. 

Fairtrade Fortnight Events

As part of our Fairtrade Fortnight this week, I attended a colleague event at Co-op House which included the film of Jennie's Ethical Adventure to Guatemala where she found out where our Fairtrade coffee comes from and the difference the Fairtrade Premium makes. The film which is being promoted across our social media channels is only three minutes long so if you haven’t seen it already please click on the link here.

Our Fairtrade quiz hamper winner Naheem Khan with competition prizewinner, Jennie Simpson (bottom left)

Next week, there will be a range of other Fairtrade Members events going on at our stores including at Bicton Heath on Monday and at Chipping Norton on Thursday where Cat Rayner, the Campaigns Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation, is talking about their campaign this year to get a living wage for West African women growing cocoa. You can read more about Cat's blog and their campaign by clicking here.  

In addition on Friday of next week to coincide with International Women’s Day, we are holding a Women in Co-operation event at the Black Country Museum where we will be celebrating the role women have played in the Co-operative Movement. I’ll be reporting back on Fairtrade Fortnight and Women in Co-operation in my next blog.

That’s all for this week’s blog and if you would like to get involved in the conversation, let me know your comments below.