eeCoff — Dude — I didn’t get your message — I’m guessing it was a comment? I do have a spam filter set up, and while it’s good, it’s not perfect. However, there are currently 844 comments captured in it, which is why I never wade through it. But it sounds like for some reason your comment was considered spam! I’m sorry :(

Back to the point you’re making — I totally hear you about not wanting to “bring down a system” — especially a well-meaning one — that’s “worked,” more or less, so far. I too refrained from saying anything negative about the FT certification or about FLO or TFUSA specifically for a while — and I believe many coffee companies and activists did the same — until it got to the point where it really became clear — at least quite clear to me — that TFUSA wasn’t making a good faith effort to listen to and address these concerns — and that TFUSA wouldn’t do so, until the seriously fair trade people started making some noise.

Thus, the direction this blog’s taken.

I too agree with a lot of what Dean has to say, so we have that in common. But as you know, Dean too has left the TFUSA system.

So now I’m sorta wondering if your comment had to do more with the quality issue (which Jerry too’s questioning, as well as many others) or about the transparancy to the farmer level issue (which I have TFUSA people saying they’ll gimme more info to discredit, but I haven’t received this info as of yet)…. In any case — I tried emailing you — but it bounced back to me: the email account appears not to exist. If you mistyped it, pls backchannel me — My email’s greenlagirl@gmail.com.

Jerry — I have to say that that’s the point that bothers me the most. On the other hand, I don’t have enough confidence in my feeling of disagreement, because I’m clearly not a quality connoiseur. Still, I’m a serious coffee drinker, and I really have qualms about linking the fair trade movement so strongly to the quality coffee (which I see as being similar to the haute cuisine) movement… More on that later, after I have more time to think about it –

Don’t play with the livelyhood of these people. I can send you pictures of the infrahumane shacks where displaced farmers live (I saw them in Peru and couldn’t believe it), so think about the impact of your words before volunteering them so freely.

I fully agree with Dean, and I think that he has hit the root of the problem, and it isn’t lack of transparency in origin.

So Siel, I offer to give you a lot of first hand information about what I’ve seen in origin. Some of this criticism is based on the lack of understanding of the business … the trading business … because even the Fair Trade Coffees are a commodity.

You know my email.

1. Convert TransFair premiums to a sliding scale above the C, with a lower limit. (possibly an upper if prices should ever get above a certain level? Not sure on that one – I’m no economist)

2. Make payments TO THE FARMER the standard for certification to increase transparency. That’s the obvious one. If you’re going to talk about helping farmers directly, then be accountable for it…directly.

3. Quality standards. Geoff is dead-on about creating a culture of quality. Though an immense and nebulous undertaking, I think it would be invaluable and make sourcing really fine coffees that much easier, which woud drive up demand, etc… I’ve heard more than once that, “Oh, I’ve had Fair trade coffee and I didn’t like it.” Who is benefiting from that? Maybe something as simple a two-tier cert (A and B?) would be enough that farmers would push to attain “A” pricing and that helps everyone.

I began origin-roasting a few years ago after meeting some really great farmers in Costa Rica. It was the best thing possible for the farmers but proved unsustainable both financially and ecologically(air freight). While I still have a good relationship with my Costa Rican supplier and travel there annually to meet with him, I have entrusted the Fair Trade certification process to guide me to selections of other responsible coffees until I can get there myself.