Coffee

Annual coffee consumption worldwide is estimated to be around 400 billion cups, or 12,000 cups per second. But for many of the world’s 25 million coffee farmers, coffee is a labour intensive crop that frequently yields very little financial return. Fair Trade is changing that, providing a guaranteed minimum price, social and economic premiums, and much more.

Coffee is indigenous to Ethiopia, where the beans were first consumed around 500 A.D.. Today, the crop is enormously valuable to the economies of many developing countries.

Most of the coffee-dependent workers worldwide are in the global South, especially in Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, and Mexico. Small family farmers grow over 50% of the world’s coffee.

Coffee farmers are extremely vulnerable to the volatile international market. It takes four years for a coffee plant to yield fruit – making it very difficult for farmers to respond quickly to fluctuating market prices. As a result, they often have to sell to intermediaries for low prices.

Price volatility and the coffee crisis

There has always been high price volatility in coffee. In 1962, international governments negotiated the first International Coffee Agreement and introduced quotas as a means of promoting coffee consumption. However, in later years, the Agreement collapsed. While it was re-instated in 1994, coffee prices were no longer regulated.

Between 1999 and 2003, an overproduction of low quality coffee dragged down the world market price of high quality coffee. At their lowest, coffee prices fell to an extreme low of $US 0.45 per pound. The coffee crisis forced hundreds of thousands of farmers out of business.

Fair Trade in your cup

Fair Trade offers an alternative to conventional coffee markets. Through Fairtrade certification, coffee producers are offered a minimum price that covers the costs of sustainable production, an additional Fairtrade Premium, and more...

The international standards for Fairtrade certified coffee are:

• A floor price of US$1.40 per pound for Fairtrade certified washed Arabica coffee, and US$1.35 for natural Arabica. The floor price for washed Robusta is US$1.05, while that of natural Robusta is $1.01. In all of these cases, if the market price is higher, farmers receive the market price. 
• A Fairtrade Premium of US$0.20 per pound is added to the purchase price. The premium is used by producer organizations for social and economic investments at the community and organizational level.
• An additional US$0.30 premium is paid for coffee also purchased as organic
• Producers are organized in co-operatives (or associations) which they own and govern. There is democratic decision-making and everybody has an equal right to vote.
• The application of environmental standards restricts the use of agrochemicals and promotes sustainable agriculture.
• Pre-harvest lines of credit are given to the co-operatives if requested, of up to 60% of the purchase price. 

So what's a coffee cherry?

Coffee beans are really the two seeds of the cherry-like fruit of the coffee bush or tree. The timing of coffee bean picking is crucial; if beans are picked prematurely, they will be of poor quality. If left too long, the cherries are likely to be knocked off the trees by rain. 

When the fruit turns bright red, it is picked by hand and then pulped, dried, sorted, roasted, ground, and finally brewed into coffee.

There are two distinct types of coffee beans.  Most of the world’s coffee products come from slower growing Arabica beans, which must be grown more than 2000 feet above sea level.  The second type of coffee, Robusta beans, grow more quickly but tend to be considered of lower quality than Arabica.

In Canada, the most popular Fair Trade Certified coffees are the Arabica varieties in the specialty, or gourmet, market. This market is experiencing steady growth.