Coffee Crisis 109: The Catch-22 of fair trade debates
Before Ric of Groundwork decided to get one of his blends fair trade certified, he said he sometimes saw certification as “a preventative act” – to ensure that less-informed people didn’t think Groundwork was a “bad” company.
I see his point. Just as there are people who blindly subscribe to one-sided, so-called “free trade” principles espoused by the right, I’m guessing that there are some kids these days who go to a Coldplay concert, hear about fair trade, then single-mindedly decide all non-100%-fair trade companies are slave-driving assholes.
As most of my blog readers know, this isn’t true. Fair trade certification isn’t without its shortcomings. The one that bugs me most is that, for coffee, ONLY co-ops can get fair trade certified, as of now. This means that big farms that hire outside workers cannot get certified — even if they treat workers kindly. Individual farmers, too, are unable to get certified. You can imagine how nice coffee companies who’ve been doing business with these plantations and farmers for years would be reluctant to cut ties with them, just cuz they can’t get certified under current rules.
Sadly this is what companies like Starbucks use as an excuse (PDF) for not buying more fair trade coffee. Starbucks will complain that they can’t be an all fair-trade company, because certification isn’t avaliable for large plantations.
So why doesn’t TransFair, the company that licences US companies’ fair trade products, push to allow plantations to get fair trade certified? Because there’s already a lot of fair trade certified coffee that’s NOT being bought at fair trade prices, due to lack of buyers.
So why’s there so much fair trade coffee left over? Because companies like Starbucks aren’t buying more fair trade certified coffee. If big companies like Starbucks bought more fair trade coffee, orgs like Transfair and FLO, which certifies farms as fair trade, would have the funds and impetus to certify plantations.
But because many big companies choose to buy only enough fair trade coffee to greenwash their company — Starbucks, for ex, makes only 1.6% (a stat unpublished on the web) of its coffee purchases fair trade — these nonprofit orgs just don’t have the resources to go about certifying plantations. Like most nonprofit orgs, FLO and Transfair have to be pragmatic, putting their money and resources where they’ll have the most impact — which, right now, are co-ops.
It’s become a real Catch-22. Fair trade certification is limited by financial constraints. But the companies that could ease these constraints point to the current limitations of certification as a reason for not increasing their fair trade purchases.
Yes, it’s a complicated situation. But if Starbucks wanted to, it has the money and power to resolve it. The mermaid often complains that for a company its size, there just isn’t enough (PDF) fair trade certified coffee around to satisfy its needs. Well — Starbucks — How ’bout coming back to us with that complaint AFTER buying a lil more of the fair trade certified coffee already out there? THEN we can talk seriously about getting big-farm plantations certified.
Meaning — No one’s asking Starbucks for a 100% conversion at this point. Behemoth companies like Starbucks have pretty much precluded that possibility, since their meager fair trade purchases won’t allow for more certification to occur. But there’s nothing stopping Starbucks from buying more fair trade coffee, making it a bigger part of the corp’s purchases.
Nothing, except corporate greenwashing and reluctance.
(Yes, I know Starbucks is pushing its own C.A.F.E. pracitices thing. More on that tactic later.)
Filed in: starbuckschallenge starbucks coffee fairtrade flo transfair
Hey Siel!
Thought I’d stop in and see what you’re up to…A lot as usual. I can’t even keep up! thought I’d drop you a note and let you know that I may have a backer for my shop! WooHoo! Still a ways off, but getting closer! Also, I found an organic FT coffee shop just blocks from my house! I was shocked! http://www.sunriseoasis.com/ They don’t have much of a site yet, but I’m so excited! The only downfall is that they don’t have a drive through, which is difficult with three kids, but for real FT, organic coffee, I’ll rough it! :)
Hope you have a fabulous green day!
Be well,
Jenn
Comment by Jenn — December 1, 2005 @ 10:13 am
I’ve always wondered who it is taht actually uses the drive throughs at coffee shops — I guess it would’ve been no mystrey to those with kids :)
Comment by Siel — December 1, 2005 @ 10:09 pm
‘right’ and ‘left’ is so last century :)
Comment by beev — December 2, 2005 @ 5:52 am
True — But it’s depressing how the two “sides” are getting even more polarized these days –
But it’s been interesting, meeting more religious people who share fair trade interests :)
Comment by Siel — December 3, 2005 @ 1:30 am
“Well — Starbucks — How ’bout coming back to us with that complaint AFTER buying a lil more of the fair trade certified coffee already out there? THEN we can talk seriously about getting big-farm plantations certified.”
How much exactly should they buy in order for you to talk seriously? What if that amount does not exist in Starbucks standards. Remember not all FT coffee is in that quality range.
I just stumbled on you site and think you do a fine job. I did notice however that you seem to contradict yourself all over the place when an opportunity arrises to slam Starbucks. You yourself mention the shortcomings of FT coffee as it relates to Starbucks needs and yet when you quote a Starbucks opinion making the same point you usually follow it with a sarcastic comment. I respect that you have a strong opinion but if in order to support your idea you have to ignor a reasonable point on the other side of the issue then your strong opinion is somhow weakend.
I understand that it is not in your best interest to appear to concurr with Starbucks. Maybe you could use a little Fair Trade of ideas.
Comment by Brian — February 13, 2006 @ 10:22 pm
Brian — The majority of fair trade certified coffee out there is STILL sold at conventional prices. And while some of that is cuz the stuff’s just not up to par, there’s plenty of quality beans out there that’re still not being bought. I guess I’m saying that quality may be an issue, but not the PRIMARY issue that’s holding Starbucks back from making a bigger commitment to Starbucks. It’s a straw person argument.
That, coupled with the fact that part of the reason for some of the low quality beans is the fact that farmers are forced to pick their coffee cherries early in order to cover debts — because they’re not getting a fair price for their coffee and are desparate — and the picture gets even more complicated.
But I totally see how what I wrote above could be seen as being contradictory read alone. Fair trade’s such a complicated animal — Writing in a blog format, it’s hard to keep posts a relatively snappy read while covering all bases — something I’m working on, but def. something I could improve on. In any case, I’m glad you commented and asked me to clarify :)
Comment by Siel — February 14, 2006 @ 10:02 am
perfect site good information, very nice news and etc… tnx
Comment by wakeman — June 20, 2006 @ 1:47 pm
Good job.
Comment by Kelin — August 7, 2006 @ 12:06 am