Students Advocate for ‘Fair Trade’ Farmers

Harvard students should think of coffee more deeply—not just as a source of caffeine, said speakers at the Harvard Fair Trade Coffee Festival yesterday.

The event, held in Ticknor Lounge and attended by several dozen students, featured speakers from coffee makers Green Mountain Coffee and Equal Exchange Coffee, as well as from the humanitarian organization Oxfam.

The speakers and student organizers highlighted what they called the current crisis in the global coffee market, in which overproduction has driven prices down 70 percent from their high five years ago.

Jon Jacoby ’99, the Oxfam representative, offered a variety of grim statistics on the matter.

He said that 600,000 Central American workers have been laid off recently and that many farmers are only being apid 24 cents per pound—a sum that in many cases does not cover their costs of production.

“It’s a supply and demand problem,” he said. “We all learned about this in Ec 10.”

The focus of the afternoon session was to promote ‘Fair Trade’ agreements—which pay farmers the above market rate of $1.26 per pound—as a solution to the plight of the farmers.

Speakers explained that Fair Trade programs are able to pay the higher rate amount by reducing the role played by intermediates, who often buy coffee from farmers at 18 percent of the price they eventually charge consumers.

Lindsey Miller, of Equal Exchange Coffee, spoke on the wider importance of the campaign for Fair Trade coffee.

“It’s important that you understand what’s behind your cup of coffee,” she told the group.

She noted that coffee is the world’s second-most traded commodity by value, next to petroleum.

She also said that recent progress has shown that Fair Trade agreements for coffee can lead to similar programs for other crops, like bananas, cocoa and tea.

The speakers also emphasized the wide range of global issues that can be helped by the Fair Trade movement.

Fair Trade farmers are offered financial incentives for using organic methods to grow their crops.

Some of these include “shade” growing, which prevents the clear-cutting of forests.

On the other end of the spectrum, in countries like Ethiopia where AIDS affects large portions of the population, reduced coffee revenues are leading to cuts in public health spending.

Rick Peyser of Green Mountain Coffee spoke on the challenges faced by Fair Trade—not least of which is its low visibility.

“The vast majority of consumers just don’t know about Fair Trade,” he said.

The event, which was spearheaded by the Harvard Initiative for Free Trade (HIFT), was sponsored by a group of six campus organizations ranging from the Environmental Action Committee to the Harvard AIDS Coalition.

“We wanted this to be a strong kick-off for the year,” said HIFT founder, Jordan A. A. Bar Am ’04. “We want to raise awareness.”

Last year, HIFT successfully campaigned to have Fair Trade coffee served on campus.

The dining halls currently serve Fair Trade coffee on Thursdays and Sundays, and several campus restaurants serve it on a rotating basis.

The speakers encouraged students to make an effort to buy Fair Trade coffee and to drink the dining hall coffee on Thursdays and Sundays.

They also urged students to fill out comment cards asking for more Fair Trade coffee.

“We have a great relationship with [Harvard University Dining Services],” Bar Am said. “Getting them to serve Fair Trade seven days a week should be very easy.”

Dining services’ Executive Director Ted A. Mayer, in a message to HIFT on Friday, pledged to “support you as we balance the needs and requests of all our students with responsible and caring management practices.”