Coffee 5: To market to market

So. I am a small farmer. I have picked my crop, put the beans through either my or the co-operative’s beneficio, I’ve dried them…

and now I’d like to sell them. Maybe to another farmer or org down the road who buys and sells, or if I belong to a cooperative, or a union of coffee coperatives, we might have a Faritrade certificate. Then they will take my coffee and sell it on the Fairtrade market.

Now. In the same way you can’t have half an Investors in People standard, your farm can’t be ‘a bit Fairtrade’. You need to show that you are feeding and paying people right, that you are treating your rivers right, etc. Or that it’s organic, or shade grown…

BUT of the four organisations I am aware of that are certified, only one is selling 100% of their coffee on the Fairtrade market. In some cases it seems that this is because not all of their farms are certified yet, but in others its simply because there is not enough global demand. Yup, that’s right, not enough demand.

The Fairtrade organisation only give a certification. You don’t need to pay initially, so you don’t lose out before you’ve found your buyers but you do then have to find your market. It’s two separate entities. But those buyers then guarantee to come back and buy a specific amount year on year. If you think your farms are going to produce more, you can go back and ask if they’ll buy more… but they might not be able to find a big enough market for that amount of fairtrade coffee.

“Oh, that’s funny Rebs, cos Starbucks told me that there isn’t enough speciality fair trade coffee for it to stock it?”

Well, yes, it is isn’t it, because I have asked and asked and checked my language and checked it again and the fact of the matter is that there is coffee being produced by Fairtrade certified farms in Nicaragua that has to be sold on the ´normal´ market. However all these organisations still think its worth having the certification, even with these percentages - as its far more than just a guarantee of price.

There are other certifications, and projects. In a way, this is good – people here are able to sell speciality coffee at a good price and have a relationship with the buyer. On the other hand, it´s becoming confusing for the farmer and I still think that some – like Starbucks´ Cafe Practices – are a greenwash. They make you pay upfront, they don´t guarantee to come back and buy, and they don’t guarantee a price. And that’s the difference, Fairtrade does.

I found someone that seems to agree with this opinion… and she’s trawled through some weighty documents to back it up.

http://greenlagirl.com/2006/02/11/starbucks-cafe-practices-part-i/

So. When you are next in Starbucks buying your Fairtrade coffee ask them why they’re making you look like a prat having to demand it especially. And when they start with their stock answer about there not being enough say PIFFLE. There is Fairtrade coffee sitting here waiting to be bought.

Please comment if I've got any of this wrong adn you are more knowledgabe than me, once again - it's all from speaking to people in Spanish... eeek!