Where the extra dollar goes…

09 November 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers

When you buy All Good Bananas, you are not only ensuring that a fair price is paid to the grower, but you are also contributing to the Fairtrade Premium.

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This Premium goes back to the growing co-operative (in the case of All Good Bananas, El Guabo), but who decides how this money is spent? And where?

Hear directly from the growers just how they, their families and their communities benefit from, and decide what to do with, the money they earn. Simply clickety-click here or on the image above.

And if you want to know more about how Fairtrade certification works, then watch this video of Harriet Lamb explaining exactly what stands behind the Fairtrade certification mark.

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Samoan super bananas…

27 October 2011 | Posted by julia in Banana lovers, Growers, Samoa

Our dried banana chunks video gives a great overview, but there’s soooo much more to the story. Namely the journey to get them here, who was involved and what’s actually in them.

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Alright yes, gold-star to you, they are in fact just dried bananas, but there is a lot more to these juicy little fellas than meets the eye.

To get them here to New Zealand, we started working with Oxfam and Samoa’s Women in Business Development Incorporated (a not-for-profit organisation working with over 250 small-scale farmers). Organically certified by NASAA, WIBDI has been working with Samoan farmers to export organically certified Misiluki bananas to NZ since 2008. By partnering closely with Oxfam and WIBDI, we’ve been able to provide these Samoan farmers with a market for a product that currently has almost no economic value locally.

As well as being good for the growers, and in turn Samoa, there are plenty of documented health benefits for eating All Good’s organic dried banana chunks too.

Unlike banana chips, which are commonly deep fried, All Good’s banana chunks are naturally dried. Being made from the more sweeter-tasting Misiluki banana means that nothing else needs to be added; we’re talking no sugar, no sweetener, no preservative and no oil. The bananas are first peeled, then sliced and dried ripe.

If that wasn’t enough, dried bananas are a good source of carbohydrates, low in fats and have no cholesterol. Being low in sodium and high in potassium, they can help to maintain blood pressure and reduce the risk of hypertension, heart diseases and atherosclerosis. They are also a great source of magnesium (which helps to relieve fatigue, relax the muscles, nerves & blood vessels), copper (which can help to reduce the risk of inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis) and manganese (which aids in the production of energy) as well as containing Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and B-group vitamins. Have a read about their benefits here (you don’t need to sign-in, just click ‘close’).

All in all making our organic dried banana chunks good for the growers’ futures, as well as a tasty healthy sweet treat for you too.

So, hungry to try them? Check out our list of stockists here.

And if you haven’t yet seen our clip, you can also watch it here.

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Yuuusss! We’re a Sustainable 60 finalist…

10 October 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers

…and for the environment category too, no less.

Bringing fresh produce from across the other side of the world doesn’t instantly seem to be the most sustainable option, but for a country that is literally bananas for the yellow fruit, importing is currently the only viable commercial option. So we say, why not do it in a way that limits the impact on the environment as much as possible?

From the methods & approaches our El Guabo growers use on their farms, to the way our bananas are packaged and shipped, sustainability is at the heart of what we do.

We’re super-proud of the work our growers do to ensure the environment (and their health) is looked after now and for future generations. As Angel says (pictured above with his daughter Daniella) “The important thing is to keep helping us by buying our Fairtrade bananas… If you don’t buy our fruit, we can’t look forward to better times and keep taking care of the environment”.

You can hear directly what else Angel and our other growers have to say about the difference Fairtrade has made to their lives, their communities & the environment under the growers’ stories tab.

Oh and keep your fingers crossed for us on the 30th Nov too eh, eh.

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Fairtrade certification – what it really means…

30 September 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers

Harriet Lamb from Fairtrade UK visited our shores in June. A gifted and passionate speaker, she spoke about the rigour and standards behind the Fairtrade mark and just exactly why it guarantees a better deal for Third World Producers. Click here or on the image above to see what she has to say.

You can also view a fuller video of her talk, where she speaks about the shocking difficulties our El Guabo farmers overcame in getting their Fairtrade bananas into supermarkets.

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Changing the world one banana at a time

16 September 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers, Samoa

A little background piece on how, working with WIBDI and Oxfam New Zealand, we brought the Samoan Organic Dried Bananas to New Zealand stores (you lucky, lucky people).

You can buy these beauties in Auckland from:

Ripe Deli, The Little Grocer, The Juicery, Kokako cafe at HP Winter Garden

And we’re currently working on stores in Wellington too.

Hang tight Wellingtonians. Soon, soon.

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Meet the growers

17 August 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers

Not got a smartphone? Stink! You can still hear our growers' stories directly from them by clicking on the image above.

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Meet the farmer who grew your banana

03 August 2011 | Posted by julia in All Good News, Banana lovers, General, Growers

Those lucky punters at the Foodshow not only got to sample a whole heap of Fairtrade ‘nana goodies, they also got a sneak peak at a little application us geeks at All Good have been working on with Andrew Wilshire and the guys at Tomorrow.

Now, we get over-excited talking about the BIG difference Fairtrade makes to our growers, but there’s nothing more compelling than hearing directly from the growers themselves. And the best place to hear about it? Why, when you’re instore choosing your fruit course. So we’ve developed instore posters that will be popping up over the next couple of weeks that include this little code below.

You may have seen these little squares appearing in places before and wondered what the heck they were. Well for the uninitiated (*warning geek-speak alert*) these squares can be read by any smartphone with a QR-code reader which converts the squares into hidden content downloaded straight to your phone.

In simple terms?

• Point phone
• Take picture
• Web brower opens up with cool stuff like videos to play with
• You go “ooooooooooh that’s good to know”

Go on have a play now or next time your instore…

Or have a more detailed look at our new growers page here. Choice.

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Fairtrade: Dollar extra goes a long way

21 June 2011 | Posted by simon in All Good News, General, Growers

Fair Trade products make more than $7 billion a year, helping more than 1 million workers around the world. Watch the TV3 Nightline story about how All Good Fairtrade bananas are good for you and good for the growers – ensuring bananas are farmed without the use of pesticides and other chemicals that are hazardous to the health of farmers and supporting them and their families in Ecuador.

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Sharing the love

16 July 2010 | Posted by simon in All Good News, Banana lovers, Growers

Yesterday Oxfam sent an email asking their supporters to help save the Fairtrade banana. A few people have asked if Fairtrade banana’s are in danger of disappearing from NZ stores. The answer is no – not if we can demonstrate that enough kiwi shops and consumers want them.

We’re getting great support from everyone buying All Good Fairtrade bananas and all the stores that stock and promote them and we’re incredibly grateful for that. We want to celebrate this.

But we do need to sell more to show the stores that don’t stock them it’s worthwhile for everyone to get behind Fairtrade. And, although we are getting great support we still aren’t quite selling all the bananas we get from our growers in El Guabo each week. The catch is that we reckon if we were in a few more stores we would.

So, if you want to help the best way is to accentuate the positive. Tell those stores that do sell All Good Fairtrade bananas how much you appreciate being able to buy from them and tell those that don’t stock them how much you’d appreciate them if they did.

Here are a few of the stores that are backing Fairtrade bananas and the people who grow them. If you want to find out where you can buy All Good bananas click here.

Dad, Abel Ugarte, Mom, Elizabeth Urdiales sons Abel Alberto and Axel Andres and baby Eimy Elizabeth all live on the family farm in El Guabo where Abel and Elizabeth grow the bananas you can buy from Commonsense Organics in Wellington.

We took this photo to show how much they appreciate the support of stores like Commonsense and the people who buy our bananas from them.

Angel Iniguez and his daughter Daniella.

This is Angel’s family farm in Tenguel, El Guabo. You’ll find his bananas in the New World stores that have got behind Fairtrade. A big thankyou to New World from Angel and Daniella.

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