Switch to Fair-Trade CoffeeShalom and welcome to Tikkun Tips. A bi-weekly nugget of eco-Jewish thought from your friends at the Teva Learning Center.
Anyone who has spent a morning with me knows that I love coffee. I love the smell, the taste, the process of buying, grinding and preparing coffee. When preparing for a an exam on the biology of Costa Rica, I bought Costa Rican beans. I never really gave too much thought to where specifically these beans were coming from, how the farmers were treated, or the environmental impact of the coffee trade.
As I began to think and read more about it, I learned that coffee is one of the most highly traded commodities in the world. It has deep roots in many different cultures, and is a commodity which has been traded for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
I also learned the coffee trade is one of the most problematic trades that exists. Global Exchange, an international human rights organizations, writes that after oil, coffee is the second largest US import, and that the US consumes one fifth of the world’s coffee.
According to Equal Exchange, a worker-owned co-operative coffee distributor, “The chain of events that leads from the farm to your cup is long and expensive: Processors, creditors, exporters, brokers, and a cast of middlemen — known to Latin American farmers as ‘coyotes’ — can all come between you and the farmers before you get to sip your morning brew. With world coffee prices constantly changing and “coyotes’ paying the lowest price possible, coffee farmers never know how much they’ll get for their crops. Isolated from markets, they struggle to make a simple living. The producers of a rich crop are often trapped in poverty.”
The Shulchan Aruch states, “Anyone who holds back the wages of an employee is comparable to one who takes his life, and he transgresses five prohibitions and one positive commandment.”
Shulchan Aruch: Choshen Mishpat 339:1-5
In this age of globalization, it is essential to expand our understanding of this commandment to include all workers from whom we derive benefit. If we knowingly partake in an exploitative trade, it is as if we are directly responsible for the exploitation.
There are also environmental implications for conventional coffee production. Full-sun coffee plantations must clear-cut the forest and use large quantities of toxic fertilizers and pesticides to keep their coffee productive. In doing so, they destroy animal habitat and release toxins into the water and soil.
But there is an alternative to supporting this abusive industry. Using internationally recognized fair trade standards, organizations such as Equal Exchange seek to balance the inequities found in the conventional coffee trade. Coffee is a leading source of income for the developing world. Through fair trade, it can be a delicious and powerful tool to bring about positive change for small farmers and their families.
What are the fair trade standards?
1. A Fair Price: Producer cooperatives are guaranteed a fair price of US$1.26 per pound or 5 cents above the prevailing market price OR US$1.41 for certified organic coffee or 15 cents above the market price. Presently, the price for non-fair trade coffee on the global market is between $0.49 and $0.52 per pound, which is well below a livable wage for coffee farmers.
2. Democratic Organization: Producers must belong to cooperatives or associations that are transparent and democratically controlled by their members.
3. Direct Trade and Long Term Relationships: Importers must purchase coffee directly from Fair Trade certified producers and agree to establish long-term and stable relationships.
4. Access to Credit: When requested by producers, importers must provide pre-harvest financing or credit (up to 60% of each order).
5. Environmental Protection: Producers must implement integrated crop management and environmental protection plans. Through price incentives, producers are encouraged to work towards organic production. (Source: Grounds for Change)
The environmental benefits of buying shade-grown and organic coffee are also substantial. Coffee is a shade-loving shrub and naturally-occurring varieties can only be cultivated under a canopy of shade trees. What we now refer to as "shade-grown coffee" was the only way coffee was cultivated until 25 years ago, when new full-sun hybrids were developed that produced substantially higher yields for coffee farmers and allowed the creation of massive agribusiness-style plantations. (Source: Grounds for Change)
A typical shade-grown farm is made up of coffee trees grown alongside other food crops under a canopy of taller trees. These taller trees provide fruit, wood and other valuable products to the farmer while offering protection and nutrients to the coffee plants and preventing soil erosion.
Shade-grown farms also provide vital wildlife habitat. Each year, billions of migratory birds make the journey from the temperate climates of North America where they breed to the tropical climates of the South. Warblers, tanagers, orioles and thrushes, as well as indigenous birds and animals make shade-grown coffee farms their home. By drinking fairly traded coffee, you can help support small-scale farmers, enabling them to farm sustainably, preserving wildlife habitats and protecting the environment. (Source: Equal Exchange)
So make the switch to Fair-Trade coffee and energize your mind, body and soul with your morning cup of Joe.
Signing off...Nati Passow
Teva Learning Center
307 7th Ave Suite #900
New York, NY 10001
teva@tevacenter.org
www.tevacenter.org
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Sustainably Delicious
For lots more information about fair-trade coffee, including online retailers, check out Equal Exchange and Grounds for Change
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