Fair Trade Articles
Fair Trade Coffee Just A Machine Away
The machines are invading, but they’re fair. The effort to push fairly traded products has a new ally with the introduction of coffee machines stocked full of ethical coffee. Guy Talevi, the local owner-operator of Human Beans Coffee Company has begun distributing machines around Ottawa office buildings “providing the fair trade movement with market penetration beyond the reach of staffed retail operations”, according to his website. Here’s why it’s a good idea.
- “Under the current system of coffee trade, very little of what consumers pay for coffee, often less than 10 per cent, reaches the farmer. Of the 25 million coffee producers, approximately 15 million are small farmers. Unable to export directly, they must sell their crops to mid-level traders, or “coyotes”, according to Oxfam Canada.
- Much of the coffee you drink puts already impoverished farmers in a pile of debt. Fair trade in goods, including coffee – it’s right up there with oil as one of the two largest items in international trade – offers an alternative that eliminates the middleman and puts profits back into farmers’ pockets.
- More consumers are translating their knowledge about fairly-traded coffee into decision-making, according to Tracey Clark, managing director of Bridgehead Coffee, the largest chain of fair trade coffee shops in Ottawa. That ethical purchasing power could translate into employees pressuring their companies to make Talevi’s Human Beans machines available in office buildings in Ottawa. “There is some demand for this product, I’m still working on it”, Talevi said. “It’s an uphill battle for sure”.
- Frontline has always viewed machine coffee as a last resort, though Talevi claimed, “You really can’t tell the difference between an espresso coming from my machine and one from a barista.” We’ll take that challenge any day.
- The name of Talevi’s machines, the Human Beans Coffee Co., is meant to remind us that there are “human beings on the supply side of the coffee chain”, he said.
Coffee: Grounds of Poverty?
Every morning, in homes and at drive-thru windows across the country, its aroma fills the air. It gives many the boost they need to start the day. Some couldn't imagine functioning without it. The beverage of choice for millions of Canadians, coffee has developed into a culture of its own.
With cafés and coffee shops cropping up everywhere - 3.5 million cups of java are consumed daily in Canada alone - coffee has become a multi-billion dollar business worldwide.
But not everyone reaps the benefits equally. While a handful of corporations take in the lion's share of the $55-billion (US) a year industry, more than 20 million coffee farming families in the developing world struggle to survive on incomes of less than $1 (US) a day.
The plight of these farmers has been made worse by the drop in the market price of coffee , which is currently less than it was during the 1930s Depression. According to Oxfam (UK), this has led to a crisis situation.
In response, Oxfam and other international development agencies are trying to help coffee farmers by ensuring that they receive a living wage for their work.
This is the idea behind Fair Trade, a growing network that harnesses consumer purchasing power to promote development in the global South.
Under the Fair Trade system, coffee is purchased directly from democratically run grower cooperatives comprised of small-scale farmers. Producers are paid a minimum of $1.26 ( US ) per pound of coffee .
"That $1.26 per pound enables farmers to secure a basic standard of living, including a healthy diet, reasonable shelter, clothing for themselves and their families, education and basic health care. And it also allows them to retain their land," explains Doug Dirks, director of the Ten Thousand Villages outlet in New Hamburg, Ont. The non-profit organization sells Third World crafts as well as coffee in stores across North America .
This system differs from the conventional one, where the long route from coffee tree to consumer's cup involves several different players and seems to benefit everyone but the farmers.
In many parts of Latin America , middlemen - or 'coyotes', as coffee farmers call them - control most transportation routes and export markets. Peasant farmers living in isolated communities rely on these middlemen to buy their coffee , usually at a very low price.
To make matters worse, because these farmers do not have an income until harvest, many have little choice but to borrow money at high interest rates - often from the 'coyotes' - or sign over their land to pay off debts.
Much of the land acquired this way is then clear-cut and converted into large plantations where coffee is mass-produced using pesticides and chemicals. Critics of this practice point out that it is rapidly destroying thousands of hectares of forest, displacing animal and plant habitats, and endangering the survival of many species.
The human cost is even higher, as many farming families are forced to leave their homes and sacrifice their traditional way of life. Some move from plantation to plantation working as migrant coffee pickers, where they are underpaid, often mistreated and toil in unhealthy working conditions. Others relocate to already overpopulated urban areas.
It is conditions like these that prompted Équiterre, a Montreal-based agency that promotes ecological and sustainable development issues, to organize an educational campaign on Fair Trade. Funded in part by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), "A Just Coffee" recently toured 20 cities in eastern Canada .
In April, the tour stopped in Sudbury , where it was hosted by Village International, a store that sells Fair Trade products. Pauline Loyer, manager of the non-profit retailer, says that more Canadians are becoming aware of and supporting fairly traded goods.
"People have more knowledge of the issue now. It's been in the news," says Loyer. "We don't have the advertising budget, unfortunately, or we'd be able to get the message out more," she adds, noting that the store is in danger of closing its doors after 12 years in business in Sudbury .
Still, from 1997 to 1999, sales of fair trade coffee more than doubled in Canada . "Consumers today are more and more aware and want more information about the goods they consume. They want to know how it was produced and what it contains," says Caroline Whitby, director of TransFair Canada , a third-party certification body that sets Fair Trade standards and monitors producer organizations in developing countries.
More than 60 brands of Fair Trade coffee are currently available from retailers across Canada , including supermarkets like Loblaws and the Co-Op chain in western Canada . Prices vary between $5 and $10 for a 227g (half-pound) package - equal to the cost of gourmet coffee sold by many "designer" coffee retailers.
Whitby points out that a recent survey indicated 41% of Canadians would be willing to pay more for coffee if they could be assured that farmers were paid a fair price for their crops. She adds that by paying as little as four to five cents more per cup, Canadian coffee drinkers could have a significant impact on the lives of peasant coffee farmers.
Today, more than 300 coffee cooperatives in 19 countries benefit from Fair Trade. That means many thousands of peasant farmers can now provide the necessities of life for their families.
Advocates of Fair Trade hope that more consumers will wake up and "smell the coffee" and support their efforts to help these farmers.
Fair Trade Links
Oxfam’s Make Trade Fair campaign (Lots of great articles. Become an activist!):
www.maketradefair.com
Canadian International Development Agency Youth Zone:
www.acdi-cida.gc.ca
Transfair Canada
www.transfair.ca
