Let’s reconnect and reignite our shared purpose as a community! This year’s Equal Exchange Summit is more than a gathering—it’s also a celebration of 40 years of changing trade. For four decades, we’ve been working together to build an alternative trade model rooted in solidarity, democracy, and fairness. Together, we’ve connected coffee, chocolate, tea, bananas, and other fairly traded foods from democratically organized small farmer co-ops in the Global South with Citizen-Consumers in the North through Equal Exchange’s worker-owned cooperative—proving that another way of doing business is not only possible, but powerful.
As we mark this 40th anniversary milestone, we do so amid real challenges: historically high coffee and cacao prices, unpredictable tariffs and trade policies, and increasing corporate consolidation in our food system. Join us for a dynamic gathering of farmers, worker-owners, customers, organizers, and partners as we reflect on four decades of impact, confront today’s realities, and chart the next chapter of our solidarity economy—because in a world that urgently needs alternatives, our movement matters more than ever.
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Thursday, June 11
Welcome dinner (optional)
Early check-in available
Friday, June 12
Keynote Address
Workshops
All meals provided, followed by a party
Saturday, June 13
Breakfast (optional)
Equal Exchange Roastery Tour (optional)
Overnight accommodation will be provided in Wheaton dorms for anyone wishing to stay on campus Thursday and/or Friday nights.
There is no charge for the event or accommodations this year.
eynote Address: Santiago Paz López
We are excited to announce our keynote speaker for the 2026 Equal Exchange Summit: Santiago Paz López. Santiago is the Commercial Manager of Norandino Cooperative (formerly Cepicafe) located in the Piura region of Peru. What started out as a small group of coffee growers in the mountains of northern Peru has grown into a thriving cooperative that has been a partner of Equal Exchange for almost thirty years.
For the last forty years, Equal Exchange has built a better food system by helping organized groups of small farmers gain economic independence and greater political power in their regions. Norandino Cooperative is perhaps the strongest example of this approach since our trading partnership began and Santiago has been a key leader in this organization since its inception. He is one of the most visionary forces for social development we have ever worked with. In addition to solidifying the co-op’s market position in coffee, Norandino has expanded to bring co-op representation and infrastructure to sugar and cacao growers in northern Peru. They have built processing plants for both and now control the first step processing (cocoa powder, butter and “liquor”) instead of relying on private players whose primary interest is not the farmers.
At the summit, Santiago will reflect on past successes and failures in this movement, as well as some of the biggest challenges they face in the coming decades.
“I believe the market is the most important. You must start from the reality of your producers. Most of them live in extreme poverty. The most important thing for them is to generate an income. They are busy surviving from day to day: what do we eat today, what do we eat tomorrow. The market can change matters.”— Santiago Paz López
