What's in your coffee cup?

Vassar switches to more globally-aware fair trade grinds

Nick Kusnetz Guest Writer

When Maureen King began her job as Director of Campus Dining at Vassar in 1999, the College already had begun to purchase some of its coffee from Fair Trade suppliers. The fair trade label means that the producer receives a higher price for the product by skipping over middlemen and gaining direct access to markets. The move toward these products at Vassar started as a bottom-up campaign initiated by a group of students. Fair trade coffee was first bought for the Kiosk from a company outside Boston called Transfair. When the College switched to Java City in 2000, there was already a fair trade blend available for purchase.

In the last few years, the push to fully integrate fair trade coffee at Vassar has taken root. “There was a renewed interest,” said King. This semester, the switch will be completed, with all of Vassar’s coffee being fair trade certified by the end of October break, as well as Java City blends in the Retreat, Kiosk and ACDC, and blends from Pura Vida in Matthew’s Bean. A cup still costs the student the same, but the price of the coffee is about 80 cents more per pound, bringing the College’s coffee costs for the month of September to $3,400.

However, it is difficult to gauge the difference that fair trade at Vassar makes for farmers and their communities. Does Vassar’s purchasing of fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate have an effect? “I hope so,” said King, who claimed that the switch not only makes people here feel better, but also helps growers, at least to some extent.

One community that has been affected directly by fair trade coffee is Huatusco, Mexico. Located in a coffee growing region in the state of Veracruz, Huatusco’s small farmers formed a co-op called the Unión Regional de Pequeños Productores de Café in 1992, after several attempts by the government and development agencies failed to help the farmers. The co-op was able to establish direct connections with markets in the developed world and now has 1,908 members, including 600 women. Thanks to fair trade sales, the members have been able to fund community development projects in health care and education, increase organic production, improve crop diversification, and start reforestation projects. The co-op also has succeeded in reducing migration to cities.

The success story of Huatusco is not an anomaly. The sale of fair trade products has helped thousands of communities improve local education, health care and infrastructure. Fair trade producers also tend to be much more environmentally friendly, encouraging sustainable techniques and organic growing. Over 85 percent of all fair trade products sold in the US are certified organic. The NGO responsible with certifying producers and importers is The Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO). The FLO is a global umbrella group of national NGOs that helps more than 800,000 producers, workers and dependents in over 45 countries gain direct access to markets in order to receive fair trade prices.

Representatives make annual visits to production sites and carefully review invoices and bills to insure that producers are receiving what buyers and importers claim to pay. By eliminating middlemen, known as coyotes, and establishing a comprehensive auditing system, the FLO helps farmers in developing countries receive fair prices for their products.

However, critics of the fair trade movement claim that by charging above international market prices, it stunts earns and market share among developing nations. Critics also claim that the pricing unfairly favors producers over consumers. In response proponents note that in the current fair trade system, consumers can choose whether to buy fair trade products. They argue that the critiques apply only to a radical version of fair trade in which governments actually tax those products that are deemed “unfair,” therefore favoring fair trade products. The current system, on the other hand, is fully compatible with free and unregulated economics, in which the consumer chooses which products to buy. Defenders of the fair trade movement, including World Bank, point to its success in helping impoverished communities achieve social, economic, and environmental gains.

But there are serious obstacles to the movement. One problem is that higher prices limit the number of people who are interested in supporting fair trade products. This results in a ceiling for market share in the developed world. Some analysts say that this has already been reached in Europe, with only 1.2 percent of national coffee sales on average coming from fair trade coffee. They also warn that North America is soon to follow.

There is limited knowledge among producers about fair trade. The complex factors involved in marketing and certifying fair trade products are often not understood by farmers in impoverished communities. The cooperatives themselves often are unclear about the requirements for new members, making it difficult for farmers to join.

The biggest problem for the fair trade movement is expansion. Many think that lowering the price of fair trade products would help. But the study released by Colorado State University, (One Cup at a Time) points out that not only would this likely result in reduced benefits for farmers, but also might not result in a larger fair trade market.

Whatever the future of the fair trade movement, it has taken root at Vassar and many other colleges and universities around the country. There is even a group called United Students for Fair Trade, which brings together over 100 regional student initiatives from American schools (not including Vassar) to raise awareness and promote fair trade products. While fair trade has brought great benefits to hundreds of thousands of producers throughout the developing world, the future of the movement remains unclear as it searches for ways to keep growing.