Not long ago, fair trade coffee was only available in the U.S. in a handful of small, specialty shops along the West Coast. Today, the situation is much different. Fair trade coffee is available almost anywhere coffee is sold, including Starbucks, Walmart, and virtually any major grocery store. The story of how fair trade coffee made it to the shelves is a little known, though interesting story.
Coffee is seriously big business. It is the world’s second most valuable commodity, after petroleum. The United States alone consumes more than one-fourth of the global supply. However, coffee was virtually unknown to Europeans until about the 17th century, and many are surprised to learn it was actually through the Middle East that it became introduced into European society. It was first imported in Venice, and then spread throughout Europe. Pope Clement VIII actually attempted to ban this “Muslim drink,” but despite his best efforts it rapidly gained in popularity.
The Dutch were the first to import Coffee on a large scale. The Dutch East India company (VOC) set up plantations in Java and Ceylon, and managed the import of the coffee until 1800, when it became bankrupt. Colonial control of the VOC’s plantations was handed over to the Dutch government, which then sought to increase profits, implemented of set of policies termed “the Cultivation System.” Farmers were forced to trade commercially trade-able commodities such as coffee or sugar, instead of say, rice. They also implemented a heavy taxation system, which led to widespread abuse. Many farmers died from starvation or overwork.
Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of the Dutch Trading Company, an 1860 novel by Multatuli (the pen name of Eduard Douwes Dekker), was written as something of an expose of these policies in Indonesia. The book’s popularity spread throughout Dutch as well as Indonesian society, and led to a series of reforms by the Dutch government, as well as a revolutionary movement in Indonesia that eventually brought an end to colonialism in that country.
The end of colonialism, however, meant the beginning of neo-colonialism of the second half of the 20th century, when the self-determination of farmers in places like Indonesia continued to be compromised by market forces and private companies, rather than governments or direct rule.
Interestingly enough, it was the Dutch who first began to import fair trade coffee in 1988, and came up with the first fair trade label, which they appropriately called “Max Havelaar.” Years later the Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO) was created, and other certifications such as Fairtrade, began to be seen in grocery stores throughout Europe.
Fair trade products did not enter the United States market until the summer of 1999, but it was small at first, limited mostly to the Bay Area. It was the activist organization, Global Exchange, which began to put pressure on the coffee-retailer giant Starbucks, to carry coffee with the Transfair Fair Trade label. Starbucks resisted at first, claiming it could not possibly make a profit on fair trade coffee, but when Global Exchange began staging protests at Starbucks locations around the country in 2000. After already on the defensive as a result of the massive protests against the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle months before, in which a Starbucks shop had its windows broken in protest of its unfair trading practices, Starbucks relented and began carrying fair trade coffee. Many other retailers quickly followed suit.
Certified fair trade coffee is usually slapped with a couple of other seals as well, such as Organic, or Shade-grown. These labels are just as important as the Fair trade label, and are in fact deeply intertwined. The traditional method for growing Fair Trade coffee is beneath the tropical rain forest canopy, without the use (or need) of fertilizers or pesticides. It was not until the 1970s that large companies based in the U.S. set up large plantations, encouraging the destruction of the canopies and thereby contributing to deforestation as well as reliance upon chemicals. So when you choose organic fair trade coffee, know that this is also supporting the self-determination of the farmers.
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