University welcomes coffee farmer as part of Fairtrade Fortnight

As part of Fairtrade Fortnight (29 February-13 March) the University’s catering supplier, Sodexo UK and Ireland, played host to Franceska Salazar Hilacondo. She visited Sodexo client sites to talk about the importance of Fairtrade to support the livelihoods of coffee farmers in Peru.

Franceska gave a short talk about her life and family’s livelihood, sharing insights about the importance of Fairtrade in supporting farmers and farming communities achieve a better quality of life. Staff and students learnt about the origins of the Aspretto coffee bean, its farming process, and how Sodexo and Aspretto coffee supports farmers in Peru through Fairtrade. Aspretto is triple certified, which means that Sodexo are meeting the highest social, environmental and sustainability standards, and ensuring that farmers are being paid a fair price.

Franceska is the eldest daughter of a farming family, who are part of the La Florida co-operative. In addition to working on the family farm, the 26-year-old studies international business administration at university.

Fairtrade Fortnight is an annual awareness campaign run by the Fairtrade Foundation. This year’s campaign entitled ‘Sit down for breakfast, stand up for farmers!’ aims to raise awareness of the fact that farmers around the world can’t always feed their own families.

Shona Northey, Student Experience Manager for Sodexo said: "We are thrilled to support York St John University with their application for Fairtrade status. We are working towards increasing our range of Fairtrade products available to both students and staff, and to raise awareness of how buying Fairtrade products can help working farmers and their families, such as Franceska."

Picture shows from left to right: Shona Northey, Victoria from the Fairtrade Foundation and Franceska Salazar Hilacondo.