We appreciate the author’s interest in the coffee industry. However, his piece “Starbucks efforts to improve farmers’ wages insufficient” (CT, Oct. 18) is drawing uninformed conclusions.
Starbucks and the Fair Trade movement share common goals: to help ensure that farmers receive a fair price for their coffee so that they can improve their lives and strengthen their farms for the future. Starbucks purchased 4.8 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee in 2004, and those purchases impacted more than 42,000 Fair Trade coffee farmers in nine countries around the world. Our commitment for 2005 is to double our purchases again — to 10 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee. This will make Starbucks the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee in North America.
While we support Fair Trade, we think students should understand that purchasing Fair Trade coffee is not the sole measure of social responsibility in coffee buying. The Fair Trade movement was designed to address only one sector of the coffee industry: small-scale farmers organized into cooperatives. The coops that are currently on the Fair Trade registry represent only 3 percent of the world’s coffee farmers. Global Exchange, the human rights organization and Fair Trade advocate, states on its Web site that Fair Trade “cannot address all of the social inequities associated with coffee production around the world,” because it leaves out larger farms and their workers.
In order to address issues of economic transparency, social conditions and environmental protection for coffee purchases from all types of farms, Starbucks developed buying guidelines, Coffee and Farmer Equity Practices (C.A.F.E. Practices), that encourage sustainability at all levels of the coffee supply chain. C.A.F.E. Practices applies to coops (including Fair Trade coops), small and large farms, as well as the mills and exporters who play a critical role in helping small-scale farmers bring their coffee to market. Such holistic guidelines go beyond paying premium prices. This is a new approach for the coffee industry and we are proud to lead it.
As the author pointed out, in 2004, the first year of C.A.F.E. Practices, 14.5 percent of our coffee was purchased under the guidelines established by C.A.F.E. Practices’ pilot program. While this may seem like a small start, it actually represented 43.5 million pounds of coffee and exceeded our target by 45 percent. We committed with publicly stated targets to increasing that percentage each year and our goal is to purchase the majority of our coffee under C.A.F.E. Practices by 2007.
Starbucks agrees with the author about the importance of paying fair prices for coffee—prices that enable farmers to make a profit. Our goal is to pay premium prices for all the coffee we buy, whether or not it is part of C.A.F.E. Practices or our Fair Trade purchases. In fiscal year 2004, as noted in our Corporate Social Responsibility Annual Report, we paid an average of $1.20 per pound for coffee, which was 74 percent higher than the commodity market’s price during the year.
In addition, through 2005, Starbucks has made available more than $8.5 million in funding through nonprofit organizations that provide coffee farmers with access to affordable credit. This credit makes a critical difference to tens of thousands of farmers worldwide each year, allowing them to invest in their farms and hold their crops for sale when the price is best. Much of this credit benefits Fair Trade farmers, whether they are selling coffee to Starbucks or our competitors.
To further strengthen coffee communities, in fiscal year 2004, Starbucks supported 35 social development projects in nine countries, including building and renovating homes for coffee growing families in Columbia, a project that has benefited approximately 2,300 people since 1999.
Starbucks also provides agricultural expertise to farmers through our Farmer Support Center in Costa Rica. Through the Support Center, agronomists collaborate with coffee farmers to improve quality, implement conservation efforts and increase their profitability.
There is no question that there’s more work to be done to bring stability and equity to coffee farmers. We respect and applaud the efforts of Pura Vida and other companies that are working to make a difference in the lives of coffee farmers. But this is a complex issue that requires an integrated response, including, but not limited to, paying prices that allow farmers to make a profit. Fair Trade is one important component of buying coffee in a socially responsible manner, but not the complete solution — for Starbucks or coffee farmers.
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