Consumers can make better choices than Fairtrade coffee

By: Alex Singleton
Telegraph Blogs (UK)

The Fairtrade scheme reached its high water mark last year. Yesterday brought the beginning of Fairtrade Fortnight - the annual drum beating for Fairtrade products - but, so far, it has been a remarkably subdued affair.

The recession means that many consumers, worried about their jobs, are looking to make economies, and are less willing to pay attention to campaigns telling them to pay a more.

Meanwhile, the market is delivering higher prices on its own. Global prices for coffee, which declined from an average of $1.09 per pound in 1998 to just $0.48 in 2002, averaged $1.09 again this year. Productivity gains in some poor countries increased the supply of coffee on the market, and it took time for enough producers to switch out of coffee.

As a result, the Fairtrade scheme's aim of fighting low coffee prices for the minority of producers on its scheme seems rather irrelevant.

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Starbucks says it will double its buying of ‘fair-trade’ coffee

Phoenix Business Journal - by Puget Sound Business Journal

Starbucks Corp. said it will double its purchases of “fair trade-certified” coffee to 40 million pounds next year.

Officials at the Seattle coffee giant said it will be the largest purchaser of fair-trade coffee in the world.

The announcement was made in conjunction with Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International, which is a nonprofit group that develops standards that fair-trade producers must meet.

“By doubling our commitment to fair trade certified and scaling up our global partnership, we have a unique opportunity to further reinforce our ongoing efforts to benefit farmers and communities,” said Howard Schultz, Starbucks (Nasdaq:SBUX) CEO, in a statement.

Fair-trade principles involve labor conditions, community development, democratic decision-making, pricing and environmental sustainability.

Is shade-grown coffee the drink of the day?

Dilemma: First it was fairtrade for the farmers, now it's bird friendly for biodiversity. Lucy Siegle spills the beans on planet-friendly coffee

Lucy Siegle
The Observer,
Sunday October 19 2008

Everything concerning coffee is hotly disputed, including its origins. But I like the story that it was discovered by an Abyssinian goatherder who noticed his goats dancing about with exuberance. He correctly surmised they had eaten coffee cherries, experimented with them himself and, lo, a multi-billion dollar industry was launched (sort of). The array of 'ethical' screening and certification programmes came later, with every retailer preferring their own way of fulfilling their take on social and environmental obligations - so Starbucks presumably sees no conflict between its overseas environmental programme and leaving a tap running in every one of its stores, reputedly wasting 34.2m litres of water a day.

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Marketers Eye Fair Trade Certified As the New 'Green'

Sept 23, 2008

-By Mike Beirne

Organic has been around for about 15 years, and "green" marketing is so last month. So marketers looking for the next socially responsible effort are flocking to the Fair Trade Certified category, whose products are getting more shelf space nationwide.

So far this year, 284 Fair Trade Certified products—typically coffee, tea, herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fruit, sugar, rice, spices and even cut flowers—were launched in the U.S. compared with 130 last year and 17 in 2003, according Mintel, Chicago.

The designation, which is handled exclusively in the U.S. by TransFair USA, Oakland, Calif., means that farmers in such locations as Ghana or Costa Rica work in safe labor conditions, use environmentally friendly practices and are paid at least a minimum floor price for their crop. These family farmers may also belong to a co-op that democratically decides how to invest their profits in building schools, health clinics or developing better business and sustainability practices.

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Let's Talk Coffee

Author: Lois Maffeo

www.coffeegeek.com

Your favorite coffee roaster is in Topeka, they buy green coffee from a Fair Trade cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico that comes through an importer in Portland. How does this unique group of individuals find common ground to agree on high-impact issues like green coffee quality, cupping calibration and sustainability? How do they create a secure supply chain that reduces risk and builds equity? Fax? Skype? E-mail? Sure, those work. But Sustainable Harvest Specialty Coffee Importers in Portland, Oregon, have created a new business model called Relationship Coffee that brings these issues to the table in face-to-face meetings and onsite partnership building. And each year there is an opportunity for participants in the Relationship Coffee model to gather. It’s an event called Let’s Talk Coffee.

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Halo of Fairtrade casts a shadow on poverty

Telegraph.co.uk

"Fairtrade purports to work within the market economy but its rise has been largely based on marketing subsidies and public-sector procurement," says Tom Clougherty, the policy director of the Adam Smith Institute.

Fairtrade fails to tackle poverty, report says

Despite huge pressures on the public purse, local councils are squandering large sums to become Fairtrade towns and cities, to hector people into buying only Fairtrade. Meanwhile, the Fairtrade Foundation has received £1.5 million from the Department for International Development. This week sees the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, when charities, politicians and teachers will promote the scheme as an undisputed good. With all this effort, what a pity Fairtrade does not work.

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Kenya: Coffee Farmers to Access U.S. Market Under Fair-Trade Deal

Business Daily (Nairobi)
Zeddy Sambu

Small scale coffee farmers now have a window to sell coffee directly to the United States under the 'ethically produced' label.

Buyers advocating for Fair Trade agricultural practices in developing countries are competing for such flavour, offering a premium for every kilogramme sold through stores managed by Flavia.

Flavia, the pioneers of single-serve, brew-by-pack beverage systems, have just announced the addition of Kenya's sustainable coffee to its selection of over 30 drinks.

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Peruvians outline benefits of fair-trade coffee

By Rebecca Lerner
Special to The Ithaca Journal

ITHACA — In the Peruvian valley of San Fernando, at the historic site of Machu Picchu, fair-trade coffee is making life better for farmers.

That was the message from coffee grower Beltran Leguia Masias, who came to visit Ithaca on a trip sponsored by Equal Exchange, the company that roasts, packages and distributes coffee beans for the San Fernando Cooperative. Its product is sold at Ithaca Bakery and Collegetown Bagels.

“Before we were organized as a cooperative, we were exploited by the middlemen. They would offer whatever price they wanted. During this period, there were a lot of problems. Our children had poor nutrition, and the majority of our kids were illiterate. Now it's changed, and it's still changing,” Masias said, speaking through a translator.

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