Riordan is a third-year international
development studies and Spanish student and Seamen
is a second-year undeclared student. Both are members of the
Environmental Coalition.
By Christine Riordan and Max
Seamen
Every morning when students wake up and get their cup of joe
from Kerckhoff, Synapse, Northern Lights, Cafe SEAS or those
disgusting vending machines, they might not think about where their
drink comes from. They might not realize that the coffee
they’re drinking comes from a huge corporate monster. Most
likely they will not know that the morning ritual they so revere is
built on a regime of exploitation. They probably don’t think
about the hundreds of millions of people around the world whose
livelihood, or lack there of, is dependent upon coffee.
Did you know that coffee is the second most valuable traded
commodity in the world, next to oil? When confronted with problems
like this, most people think there’s nothing that can be done
(or is worth being done) by an individual. What most people
don’t know is that there have already been campaigns
throughout the world proven to work, and started by just a few
individuals.
Just to convince you of the magnitude of the problem, coffee
farmers throughout the world amount to 20 million families in 50
different countries. Despite such diversity, the one common factor
in coffee production all farmers must deal with is exploitation by
middlemen and large coffee businesses. Middlemen, often referred to
as “coyotes,” are exporters who buy the crop from small
farmers at prices that do not provide a basic living wage. Coyotes
then sell the crops to roasters for a huge profit.
To keep prices low, roasters will only buy from these middlemen,
and thus growers have to accept deflated prices if they want to
sell any coffee at all. In the United States, there are about 1200
roasters; these include the Big Three (Proctor and Gamble, which
owns Folgers and Millstone; Kraft, owned by Phillip Morris, which
owns Maxwell House and Sanka; and Nestle), which buy about 60
percent of the total bean volume sold. Roasters then sell to
retailers, receiving the largest amount of profit in the commodity
chain. Also present within the coffee production system are large
estates, often run under conditions similar to those of
plantations, which pay their workers as little as $3 per day.
 Illustration by CASEY CROWE/Daily Bruin
The alternative to this organized exploitation is called Fair
Trade Coffee Certification. This is a system of standards for
producers, importers and roasters, set by the Fair Trade Labeling
Organizations (FLO) International. Growers organize themselves in
cooperatives, and must comply with labor and environmental
guidelines. Importers and roasters, in turn, must pay growers
guaranteed floor prices and are obligated to support farmers in
ways that strengthen the farms and communities. If these guidelines
are followed, then the final coffee product is certified with a
Fair Trade Label.
As opposed to the fair trade system, the free trade system of
coffee production exploits farmers in ways that continually hold
them in a cycle of poverty. Coffee farmers cannot earn a living
wage under such a system; middlemen often pay farmers anywhere from
$0.30 to $0.50 per pound of coffee, which is significantly lower
than the market price (at least $1 per pound).
As a result, small farmers earn $500 to $1,000 annually from
their crops. Small farmers also cannot obtain access to credit, a
major problem which can often result in the loss of land,
equipment, and future harvests. This exploitation of farmers under
the free trade system has devastating effects on their families. In
order to compensate for low income, most farmers have to use family
labor ““ meaning that children, some as young as 6 to 8 years
of age, are working in the fields.
Under fair trade regulations, the standards of living of these
farmers and their families are dramatically raised. Farmers are
guaranteed a living wage, set at $1.26 per pound under FLO
International, despite any fluctuations of a volatile market price.
Under such regulations, a drop in the market price of coffee would
affect those who would be able to withstand the decline ““
namely, the roasters and importers. Farmers are permitted to form
democratic farmers’ cooperatives in order to control their
marketing. Ultimately, the living wage under fair trade means that
parents can afford not to send their children into the fields, but
will be able to afford health care and education.
In addition to such present benefits, fair trade creates a more
sustainable economic system of farming that will help maintain
future generations of coffee producers. The system creates a stable
situation in which younger generations of coffee-producing families
would have a more promising future.
In contrast, under the free trade system, coffee production has
numerous negative effects on the environment. Most industrial
coffee is grown using “sun cultivation” methods,
meaning that land is deforested in order to make room for
crops.
Fair trade leads to environmentally friendly techniques of
coffee production. About 85 percent of Fair Trade Certified coffee
is grown under organic conditions or is “shade-grown.”
This basically means that coffee is grown as an understory crop;
many types of trees are planted in the same area, providing
habitats for birds. These types of measures create a more
sustainable environment that will be usable for generations of
farmers yet to come.
So why should you care? You’re not responsible for
everything society does. You just want to get through your 9 a.m.
statistics lecture. But realize that you’re dependent on
society, and without it, you wouldn’t be able to eat, dress
or be sheltered, let alone drink coffee. There are those of us who
feel that with this dependency comes a responsibility to the way
society provides our lifestyle.
Furthermore, because such a large part of the world’s
population is involved in coffee production, fair trade gives
entire countries the chance to develop, and to raise their standard
of living so all are guaranteed the rights which are entitled to
them as humans.
We must realize that the United States coffee roasters and
retailers, including our own ASUCLA Purchasers here on campus,
contribute to the exploitation of small farmers abroad by
purchasing coffee produced in unjust conditions which are no better
than sweatshop labor. And every time that we purchase from Northern
Lights, Kerckhoff or any of our other coffeehouses on campus, we
contribute to this cycle of poverty in other countries. Isn’t
it time we did something?
Already, UC Berkeley and Davis have switched to fair trade
coffee thanks to the efforts of student-led organizations. Also,
pressure from national organizations like Global Exchange led
Starbucks to start offering Fair Trade Certified beans. The point
is, the movement can make a difference, and we at UCLA need to do
our part. Granted, the coffee trade isn’t the single biggest
problem facing the world, but it’s one that we all contribute
to.
Many people like to think the world gets better by itself, but
progress has always been achieved through social movements. What
does this have to do with you? Movements are just a whole bunch of
individuals, like you, doing their part. Enjoy your coffee.