{"id":9156,"date":"2018-08-15T16:34:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-15T16:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boredmom.com\/?p=9156"},"modified":"2020-01-25T14:54:49","modified_gmt":"2020-01-25T14:54:49","slug":"levelground-putting-humans-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stage.boredmom.com\/?p=9156","title":{"rendered":"Level Ground Trading: Putting Humans First"},"content":{"rendered":"

At my daughter’s preschool ‘graduation’, they asked the kids what they wanted to be someday. The kids chirped to the crowd –\u00a0 doctors! lawyers! farmers! dolphin trainers! and I think there were a few mermaids. Then there was that one kid who stood up and said, “I want to save the world someday”.\u00a0 Collective gasps. My jaded self instantly had hope for our future – good luck, kid. So imagine my surprise, when\u00a0I had the great pleasure of meeting Richard Stark of\u00a0Level Ground Trading at the Natural Products Expo West show last March. As Richard lit up while speaking, no preaching about Level Ground Trading, I thought, geezus…Richard is essentially the ‘save the world kid’, but grown up.<\/p>\n

The Expo West show was overwhelming, and honestly, I’m STILL catching up on content and reviews. However, I saved Level Ground Trading to blog about because I’m a ‘save the best for last’ type of gal.\u00a0 Level Ground Trading, based in Canada,\u00a0 trades fairly with small-scale farmers in developing countries. They have developed personal relationships with these farmers to grow crops such as coffee, tea, cane sugar, dried fruit, cacao nibs, vanilla, coconut, heirloom rice and beautiful spices.<\/p>\n

As Richard spoke to us, it was clear he had a deep passion for what Level Ground does.\u00a0\u00a0He knew the stories of where each product came from, farmer’s names, size of farm lots and how the fairtrade process that Level Ground Trading has set-up results in a direct beneficial impact upon people across the world.<\/p>\n

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The Level Ground Backstory:<\/p>\n

In 1997, four families came together with the idea of improving the lives of disadvantaged producers through trade. We were inspired by the work of Ten Thousand Villages and were keen to see the principles of Fair Trade applied to foods we consume every day.<\/em><\/p>\n

Level Ground\u2019s first Fair Trade initiative was buying coffee from a cooperative in Colombia. \u00a0Fair Trade premiums are directed to educational scholarships in the coffee growing region and the project has grown to support 200 scholarships \/year! \u00a0We\u2019ve loved watching amazing students grow up to become incredible professionals including doctors, agronomists & social workers.<\/em><\/p>\n

From there\u2026 lots happened! \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n