[Washington] Panel discusses benefits of fair trade coffee

from The Spectator Online

by Kevin Himeda

Some would consider the idea of choosing a more expensive coffee simply because the label says “fair trade” to be ridiculous. But many people are doing just that, and a panel of speakers experienced in the coffee industry and fair trade came to Seattle University on May 10 to explain why.

The problem, according to Dr. Gareth Green, a professor of economics, is that with coffee being the second largest commodity in the world, its price can have a dramatic impact on the many people who produce it.

“Coffee is primarily produced in middle and South America and then taken to North America and Europe,” Green said. “But when prices go down, it has a dramatic effect on the small farmers who produce 50 to 70 percent of it.”

One such occurrence happened in 2001 when the price of coffee dropped to historic lows and farmers made as little as 15 to 25 cents per pound of coffee. With each farmer raising an average of 270 pounds per year, growing coffee as a livelihood became impossible for many farmers and the supply of coffee dropped as they looked elsewhere for income.

According to the panel, fair trade is needed to ensure that farmers in developing countries are not hurt financially by a fluxuating market.

“The fair trade coffee movement is designed to look at ways to remove the middle men in the market and guarantee small farmers a living wage,” Green said.

The theory behind fair trade is that by guaranteeing farmers a higher wage for their coffee than the average market price, the farmers will put the extra money into improving their farms and thus improving the quality of their coffee. Farmers are guaranteed a way of life and consumers are guaranteed a supply of coffee with developed countries no longer having to send financial aid to support them.

But the question still remains of how to get consumers to want to pay more for fair trade coffee.

“I think it’s a dilemma,” said Greg Forsythe, chief opperating officer of Pura Vida Coffee, a charitably owned company invested in fair trade and organic coffee. “Everyone wants to do good for the farmer, but there’s only so much people will pay for this.”

“SU seems to think that you’ll buy for more, but with less quality,” Green added. “In reality, the coffee is as good if not better than others, so we need to change the perception.”

While fair trade coffee has become the fastest growing segment of the coffee industry, demand for it is lacking.

“Starbucks does things a little differently,” said Andy Fouche, the program manager at Starbucks Coffee. “We aren’t 100 percent free trade. When you have 300 million pounds being produced for fair trade, and only one-third of it being consumed, there’s simply not enough demand to have it drip every day of the week.”

The panel asserted that the results of fair trade are promising, however. According to statistics reported by Francisco Gutierrez, director for Cooperative Development, a second-tier organization of 3,000 small-holder farms, the average daily income of a coffee farmer is 50 cents. With fair trade, that number jumps to 74 cents, and if it is organic as well, it lies just under a dollar.

“The first question I get from people is, ‘Does it work?’” Green said. “From my experience, the answer is ‘Yes.’ The fair trade market has made an incredible impact on those it’s reaching, and with only a one-half percent share of the market, there’s massive potential.”

The fair trade event was organized by SU’s Oxfam Chapter, part of the larger nonprofit organization for which it is named, which seeks to “end global poverty through saving lives, strengthening communities and campaigning for change.”

“You can see if you just buy fair trade coffee,” said Dr. Sue Jackels, a professor of chemistry who worked with farmers in a research team to help improve the quality of coffee grown in Nicaragua. “You will incur a significant cash increase for some farmer, and we’ll have a very positive effect in these developing countries.”