Fresh Brewed: Fair Trade Coffee Connects Consumers and Farmers
By: Allison Elliott
Millions of Americans start their day with a cup of coffee - whether a grocery store blend run through the Mr. Coffee or a fancy cup of soymilk-enhanced cappuccino. But how many consumers think about the individual farmers who make that daily jolt of caffeine possible? Much of the coffee consumed in the United States is produced by farmers in Central America, where workers rely upon coffee to provide most or all of their income. Increasingly, U.S. consumers want to know that their coffee is "fair trade" - i.e., purchased from farmers at a fair price that allows them to make a living.
Sarah Lyon, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky, studies fair trade practices in the coffee trade. Her research has taken her to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Vermont and Seattle. Lyon is interested in how fair trade practices impact coffee-producing communities, including how effects are distributed across gender and socioeconomic lines.
The recent political history of coffee production is complex. The first International Coffee Agreement (ICA) was introduced by the United Nations in 1963, designed to bring coffee-producing and coffee-consuming nations together to monitor the exportation and importation of coffee, and to run a system of price supports intended to guarantee stability in coffee-producing regions. The United States, a major coffee importer, signed onto this agreement in part to maintain stable economic climates in countries they believed might otherwise be vulnerable to communist influence.
Subsequent editions of the ICA were issued in 1968, 1976, 1983, 1994, 2001 and 2007, but over the years price supports have disappeared from ICA guidelines. The 2007 agreement focuses on sustainable farming, ethical practices and eradication of poverty within a market-based system -- but without price supports, it is difficult to ensure that farmers receive fair prices for their products. The market-based nature of the system leads some coffee importers to seek the absolute lowest price possible for coffee beans - often leaving farmers with no choice but to sell their product for less than it is worth, and to sink into a cycle of debt and poverty.
Fair trade coffee is grown by farmers with whom coffee buyers in the North have a relationship based upon ethical treatment of workers and fair pricing. Small growers form cooperatives, and do business with coffee importers and roasters who often visit the farms to meet the producers and inspect the coffee. The buyers, who often have direct contact with the farmers, pay a price that allows the farmers to pay workers a living wage and continue producing a high-quality product. With the stability of a guaranteed fair price for their coffee, farmers can invest in their operations and ramp up production - benefiting their local economies. Over the years, growers and importers can develop a flourishing business relationship that would not be possible if both were seeking only to keep prices at rock bottom.
But is fair trade coffee expensive?
"If you are already buying specialty coffee, as many Americans do today, a fair trade coffee will cost about the same," says Lyon, noting that the typical young American coffee drinker prefers specialty blends over the ubiquitous economy-sized can favored by their grandparents.
Fair trade coffee is available in supermarkets or specialty stores. "You need to look for the FLO (Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International) sticker."
What about major chains?
"Some large coffee chains basically sell a small percentage of their coffee certified fair trade, but consumers are left with this idea that it's all fair trade because of their advertising. So, the company ends up with this halo by association," says Lyon.
Because large corporations have major advertising power, they were some of the first groups to introduce fair trade coffee into the consciousness of consumers. Some major coffee chains are participating in "greenwashing" - a strategy of touting a few eco-conscious and responsible practices to give consumers the impression that all products from a store follow the same guidelines.
"One major chain began to use some fair trade coffee because of consumer pressure and threatened boycotts" says Lyon, who says she encourages her students to use their power as consumers to influence corporations.
"The capitalist system gives power to the consumer to determine what they buy. Change is consumer-driven."
"With fair trade coffee, you can learn about the farmers and their communities," says Lyon, who grew up in a rural area of Vermont and likens the situation of coffee farmers in Central America to that faced by Kentucky farmers struggling since the downfall of tobacco markets. In fact, her next research initiative will begin with studying agritourism in Kentucky, and how farming communities here and elsewhere adapt and survive. She hopes to explore how concepts of fair trade developed in the coffee industry, agritourism and other innovative farming practices can help farmers domestically and abroad.
