A Fair Cup of Coffee

In the current era of globalization, the lives of people throughout the world can depend on something as simple as our morning cup of coffee. According to the international relief organization Oxfam, 130 million Americans drink coffee, consuming 450 million cups daily and spending $18 billion every year. The second most traded commodity after oil, coffee beans are grown by the labor of 20 million people in nearly 80 countries, using 26 million acres of land. In developing countries throughout Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, coffee is primarily produced on small family farms.

These small farmers are currently trapped in an economic crisis. Coffee prices are at an all-time low, less than 40 cents per pound. (However, prices for consumers have in fact increased, and major coffee companies such as Nestle, Starbucks and Proctor and Gamble are making enormous profits.) Current economic conditions hold potential for even greater hardships for impoverished coffee farmers, many of whom can barely afford to educate their children or provide health care and food for their families. Extreme poverty in coffee producing countries such as Nicaragua has led to massive urban migrations, and the dependence of many countries on coffee as a commodity means that the fate of not only small farmers but the political stability of entire nations is at stake.

There is an opportunity for Harvard students to help the plight of these farmers by buying fairly traded coffee. Fair trade coffee is purchased directly from small, democratically run farmers’ cooperatives. Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price of $1.26 per pound, and if market prices rise above the fair trade premium, farmers receive 10 cents more than the market price. Fair trade coffee is a feasible alternative because it is bought directly from cooperatives, instead of through exploitative middlemen, called coyotes, who are pervasive in the coffee trade.

With the extra income that farmers receive through the fair trade system, they can put food on their tables, provide health care for their families and educate their children. Fair trade buyers also provide credit to farmers, which saves them from falling into debt to banks and coyotes. They can accumulate capital such as trucks and processing machinery, and by selling through cooperatives, farmers increase their market power. Fairly traded coffee is also better for the environment because farmers are given a 15 cent premium for organic coffee in addition to the guaranteed price of $1.26 per pound. Nearly 80 percent of fair trade coffee is organically grown and, because the majority is grown on small farms, the clear-cutting of rainforest in order to build large plantations does not occur.

Critics of fair trade coffee often argue that by guaranteeing a wage floor of $1.26 per pound, market forces will not prevent oversupply. However, the current market is not free. Producers in poor countries do not benefit from the same government subsidies that American farmers do and are restricted from: emigrating to richer countries such as the U.S. While producers who can’t profit in one sector should be able to switch to another, coffee farmers are generally too poor to do so. (If they do switch, coca, a source of cocaine, is one of the most profitable crops to grow.) The market is already filled with numerous restrictions; most of these simply do not benefit small farmers in poor countries. Another argument against fair trade coffee is that it will cost significantly more. This claim is simply unfounded; when fair trade is compared with other high quality organic coffees, such as Starbucks or Peet’s, it falls roughly in the middle of their price ranges. Fairly traded coffee is no more expensive than unfairly traded coffee; the difference is that farmers receive a greater percentage of the price of every cup.

If you are one of 130 million Americans who drink coffee, choose to be a responsible consumer and support fair trade. Commit to buying only fairly traded coffee, and ask the managers at your favorite cafes and supermarkets to carry fair trade. Educate your friends about fair trade. Fair trade coffee is available at the Greenhouse and in Loker Commons, at cafes throughout Cambridge, and at the Dudley House Cafe, Gato Rojo, which serves only fair trade coffee. The fair trade system offers an opportunity to help poor farmers in our daily purchases. Buy a cup of fair trade coffee today and see what justice tastes like.

Julia M. Lewandoski ’05 lives in Canaday Hall. She is the Vice-Director of the Harvard Fair Trade Initiative.