Changing the World, One Cup at a Time

by Nina Luttinger and Jeremy Simer, TransFair USA

Gourmet coffee is booming, but you wouldn’t know it if you asked a coffee farmer. With world coffee prices at their lowest in years, many growers are losing their lands, such as the Mexican coffee farmers who made recent headlines when they died crossing the Arizona desert, forced to migrate by their economic desperation.

As coffee companies continue to make huge profits and US consumers pay around ten dollars per pound for gourmet coffee, family farmers receive as little as 25-30 cents per pound for the same pound of beans. Farmers’ incomes are so low, they’re below the costs of production, trapping them in poverty and debt, leaving them unable to meet even their most basic needs.

Fortunately, there’s an alternative that allows you to enjoy your coffee, and create a little bit of justice in the global economy. Fair Trade Certified coffee guarantees a fair price for family farmers—a minimum of $1.26 per pound. By starting their own export cooperatives and selling their coffee directly to importers here in the US, Fair Trade farmers also keep a larger portion of overall coffee profits. Through direct trade, fair prices, and access to affordable credit, Fair Trade helps farming families improve their nutrition and healthcare, keep their kids in school, and re-invest in their farms.

Fair Trade also encourages farmers to use sustainable farming methods—such as organic and shade-grown cultivation—which are good for communities, watersheds and wildlife habitat. At its core, Fair Trade is a business-based approach to alleviate Third World poverty, building economic strength at the grassroots.

TransFair USA is the independent non-profit organization that certifies Fair Trade products in the US. When you see the Fair Trade Certified label on a package of coffee or tea, you know that every step—from the crop to your cup—has been monitored and certified by a neutral third party, ensuring that growers really received a fair price for their harvest. Nationally, about 100 coffee roasters now offer Fair Trade Certified coffee—plus Seattle-based Choice Organic Teas now offers Fair Trade Certified tea—and the list is growing longer every day.

Since April, TransFair has been working side-by-side with the Songbird Foundation and the Northwest Shade Coffee Campaign on the Seattle Sustainable Coffee Campaign—a series of educational activities to increase consumer awareness about Fair Trade Certified, shade-grown, and organic coffees. This July 10-15, two Nicaraguan Fair Trade coffee farmers, Denia Alexa Marín and Francisco Escobar Corea, will be in the Seattle area for a series of events to share their stories about their organic, shade-grown coffee cooperatives, and the way that Fair Trade has positively impacted their communities.

To find out about their speaking engagements, see Jean Buskin’s Peace & Justice calendar at www.scn.org. For more information about Fair Trade or the week’s events, contact TransFair USA at (206) 770-0990, jeremy@transfairusa.org, www.transfairusa.org.