National Council of Catholic Women at 200 N. Glebe Road, Suite 703, Arlington, VA 22203 US - FAIR TRADE

The coffee market is booming. Coffee has grown into a $60 billion worldwide industry. However, the 25 million coffee producers who depend on coffee have very little to celebrate about java’s growing popularity.

In 2002, worldwide coffee prices plummeted to an all-time low of 42 cents per pound. Coffee giants such as Procter & Gamble, Nestle, Sara Lee, and Kraft—the "big four" of the coffee market—stand to profit from the drop by purchasing inexpensive coffee and selling it to consumers at a considerable mark up.

At the same time, the impact on coffee farmers and their families has been nothing short of a humanitarian disaster. In Central America alone, over 600,000 coffee farmers and workers have lost their jobs and livelihood. Starvation is widespread. In Ethiopia, where 700,000 families depend on coffee, the coffee crisis has created economic instability that makes it even more difficult to deal with the country’s HIV/AIDS crisis. Small family farmers, among the best stewards of the land, are losing their land to those who engage in deforestation and rob many of the world’s songbirds and other wildlife of their habitat.

Despite all the bad news, there is hope. It’s called Fair Trade. Coffee that is certified as Fair Trade by TransFair USA guarantees farmers a fair price for their crop, halts the cycle of debt and poverty, and enables farmers and their families to live with dignity.

• Fair Wages. Farmers, organized into cooperatives, receive a floor price of $1.26 per pound of coffee—five to six times more than they receive on the conventional market.

• Schools, Social Services, and Job Training. Fair Trade cooperatives reinvest revenue into community services such as health clinics, schools, housing, and women’s programs.

• Dignity and Self-Determination. Fair Trade advances worker-owned and democratically run cooperatives that allow farmers to access credit and take advantage of leadership training.

• Sustainable Environments and Sustainable Communities: Over 80 percent of Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee is also organic or shade grown coffee. Fair Trade revenue helps farmers pay for organic certification, reforestation programs, and other environmental initiatives that ensure the health of the environment, people, and wildlife.

The key ingredient to the success of Fair Trade has been consumers who care about people and the planet. Now, by taking a few simple steps, you too can help grow the Fair Trade market and benefit farmers worldwide. Here’s how:

• Buy Fair Trade coffee every time you shop. Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee is now widely available. Many businesses that have been screened as socially and environmentally responsible by Co-op America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting social justice and environmental sustainability, offer Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee almost exclusively. You can find these companies by visiting Co-op America’s online search engine at www.greenpages.org or calling Co-op America at 1-800-58-GREEN to find out how to get a print copy of the National Green PagesÔ .

You can also find Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee at Starbucks, Wild Oats, Trader Joe’s, and in a number of supermarkets. A more complete list of retail outlets that carry Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee is available at TransFair USA’s website, www.fairtradecertified.org.

• Ask for Fair Trade coffee every time you are in the supermarket. Simply fill out a comment card every time you shop. While some supermarkets offer a few Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffees, more needs to be done to make supermarket shelves full to the brim with Fair Trade coffee. If enough people ask, supermarkets, and their corporate coffee suppliers such as Procter & Gamble (owner of Folgers), Nestle, Sara Lee, and Kraft (owner of Maxwell House) will take notice.
  
• Encourage your house of worship to serve Fair Trade CertifiedÔ coffee after services. For more information about how to get started and for materials to hand out to your congregation, contact Erin Gorman at Co-op America by calling 1-800-58-GREEN or e-mail eringorman@coopamerica.org.

By working together, caring individuals can make a tremendous difference for struggling coffee producers and their families by supporting Fair Trade.

Erin Gorman is Fair Trade Program Director with Co-op America, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to creating a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.  For more information, call 1-800-58-GREEN.  This article first appeared in the September/October 2003 issue of the NCCW magazine, Catholic Woman.