2008 Woodie Awards
Playing fair
Stephanie Green
Issue date: 9/11/02 Section: Commentary
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As college students, many of us are familiar with the urgent craving for a cup of coffee before a 9:15 class or the cups at night to hold us through the end of that ten-page paper we should have started earlier. We buy some Maxwell House coffee for club meetings or go to Uncommon Grounds to chat with friends. But when we pick up the New York Times and read that the world is going through one of its worst coffee crises, forcing millions of farmers into poverty, we do not stop to think about the role we are playing.
The fact is, when we purchase coffee, chances are the farmers have only been paid a fraction of the retail price. Coffee farmers are being exploited by a middleman who transports the coffee to our markets where it is sold for much higher prices to us as consumers. The environment is not protected and large coffee companies destroy large plots of land to grow masses of coffee, without thought to sustainable agriculture.
Luckily, there is an alternative: Fair Trade Coffee. Half a million coffee farmers have formed cooperatives of 200 members and are working together to better their lives. Together they have cut out the middleman and are transporting the coffee to suppliers globally. Their coffee is shade grown and works to replenish the soil instead of destroying it, dramatically helping the environment in the process. The cooperatives are democratic and empower all workers. These co-ops receive a fair, living wage of $1.26 per pound, $1.43 per pound if it is gourmet. These prices only increase costs to consumers by five cents per cup. Meanwhile, the farmers are able to use this increase in income to invest in technology to produce coffee at cheaper prices, to help build their communities and to educate their children — the most successful method of escaping poverty.
Two years ago there were Fair Trade Coffee campaigns on two campuses in America. Today these campaigns are taking place on over 200 campuses. This movement is powerful because it is not charity, it is insistence on direct trade and a fair price for a high-quality product. The movement empowers workers to escape poverty — and the way farmers have asked us to aid them in their struggle is by increasing awareness and consumer demand for Fair Trade Coffee here in the States.
The fact is, when we purchase coffee, chances are the farmers have only been paid a fraction of the retail price. Coffee farmers are being exploited by a middleman who transports the coffee to our markets where it is sold for much higher prices to us as consumers. The environment is not protected and large coffee companies destroy large plots of land to grow masses of coffee, without thought to sustainable agriculture.
Luckily, there is an alternative: Fair Trade Coffee. Half a million coffee farmers have formed cooperatives of 200 members and are working together to better their lives. Together they have cut out the middleman and are transporting the coffee to suppliers globally. Their coffee is shade grown and works to replenish the soil instead of destroying it, dramatically helping the environment in the process. The cooperatives are democratic and empower all workers. These co-ops receive a fair, living wage of $1.26 per pound, $1.43 per pound if it is gourmet. These prices only increase costs to consumers by five cents per cup. Meanwhile, the farmers are able to use this increase in income to invest in technology to produce coffee at cheaper prices, to help build their communities and to educate their children — the most successful method of escaping poverty.
Two years ago there were Fair Trade Coffee campaigns on two campuses in America. Today these campaigns are taking place on over 200 campuses. This movement is powerful because it is not charity, it is insistence on direct trade and a fair price for a high-quality product. The movement empowers workers to escape poverty — and the way farmers have asked us to aid them in their struggle is by increasing awareness and consumer demand for Fair Trade Coffee here in the States.