ፎቶ ከ Found on fairtrade.tumblr.com Fero Cooperative: We do things differently here Standing at Fero Cooperative’s collection station, a steady stream of people with sacks of red coffee cherries perched on their backs lines up at the scales. A dignified man with tattered clothes carefully weighs the bags as another notes the weight and the farmer’s name. He tears off the receipt and hands it to the farmer, keeping a copy for the cooperative, and the bag gets added to the pile. December is high time for the harvest in Yirgalem, Ethiopia, and farmers from the Fero Cooperative struggle to keep up with the ripening cherries. All hands are on deck as men and women make for the fields. Some of the children also lend a hand after school. At the cooperative washing station, pulping machines are cranked up and workers are busy into the evening as the bounty washes in on trucks. A sweet smell fills the air as the cherries run through the mill and out the other side as slippery, gol
