Cooperative Coffees celebrates our 27th year with a milestone 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM) this October in Baltimore. Sweetwater Organic Coffee will be there to honor the past, navigate today’s challenges, and plan for a more equitable coffee future.
What Is Cooperative Coffees?
Cooperative Coffees is a green coffee importing co-op made up of independent roasters across North America. Founded in 1998, our member-owned cooperative remains Sweetwater Organic Coffee’s sole importer and core partner in our mission to roast and deliver Fair Trade, organic, and specialty-grade coffees.
What makes Cooperative Coffees unique is that it is 100% owned and governed by its member-roasters. This structure fosters transparency, fairness, and long-term trading relationships with small-scale, farmer-owned cooperatives around the world. In 2024, our co-op sourced more than 5 million pounds of certified organic coffee.
All trade contracts are made public through FairTradeProof.org, ensuring complete visibility into pricing and partner relationships for our customers so that we maintain transparency into how we operate, who our partners are, and how much we buy their coffee for.
What Is the AGM?
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a hallmark of cooperative governance. Each year, member-roasters gather in person to conduct essential business: board elections, financial reviews, strategic discussions, and committee updates. But the AGM is more than formalities, it’s a space for community, education, and reflection.
Previous AGMs have been hosted by member-roasters across the continent, from Café Campesino in Georgia to Bean North in the Yukon. In 2025, the we are happy to visit our roster members Thread Coffee, a worker-owned co-op in Baltimore, Maryland.
2025 AGM Schedule Overview
- Thursday, October 2 – Quality Retreat: Organized by the Sourcing and Quality (SAQ) Committee. Members will cup and evaluate each other’s coffees to exchange insights and improve quality.
- Friday, October 3 – Business Day: A day of co-op business, including financial reports, board elections, operational updates, and strategic outlooks. Sweetwater co-owner and Cooperative Coffees co-founder Bill Harris will offer opening remarks.
- Saturday, October 4 – Committee Day: A series of breakout discussions and forward-looking sessions. Esperanza Dionisio Castillo, longtime leader of CAC Pangoa, will deliver opening remarks from Peru, where she celebrates her own co-op’s 48th anniversary.
Why This Year Matters
Cooperative Coffees is holding our 25-year milestone meeting at a time of historic shifts in the coffee industry. Prices have soared, global tariffs have impacted trade, and small roasters and producers alike are navigating new economic pressures.
This AGM is a moment to take stock, celebrating the co-op’s resilience and recommitting to the values that make it unique: fairness, transparency, solidarity, and sustainability.
As Sweetwater Organic Coffee CEO Tripp Pomeroy has said, “In uncertain times, we double down on our values, not just because they’re right, but because they work.”
A Shared Commitment to the Future
The AGM is also an opportunity to renew and deepen Cooperative Coffees’ trading relationships, welcome new members, and discuss how to sustain impact well into the future.
From strategic planning to friendly meals and spontaneous conversations over coffee, this gathering reinforces what makes cooperatives so special: relationships rooted in mutual respect and long-term vision.
Stay Tuned for Updates
We’ll be sharing more stories and reflections from the 2025 AGM in the coming weeks—stay tuned here on the blog and follow along on our social media channels.
To learn more about Cooperative Coffees, visit coopcoffees.coop.