A Guide for Buying Ethical Coffee
How ethical is your morning brew? Find out here how to identify sustainable coffee.
Coffee is a necessary staple for many of our mornings, but the ethical implications that come with your morning brew may need to be thought about twice. The coffee brands that you are purchasing from may be part of the exploitation of farm workers and contribute to environmental destruction.
Coffee beans are ripened through processes that create pollution and increase carbon emissions. To avoid furthering these agendas, would you stop drinking coffee? We would never ask that of you. Especially since recent studies found that 62% of Americans drink coffee each day, and 63% drink it more than any other beverage, including water.
There are ways to identify coffee that is organic, sourced sustainably, and supports fair trade. Why don't all coffee brands support these requirements that consumers are becoming more aware of? Coffee is seen as a luxury item, and though it is marketed to be a necessity, it is something that isn't a dietary need. Due to it being a luxury item, companies can charge the consumer more and offer farmers less than livable wages for the product.
Why is coffee unethical?
Coffee's unethical implications begin at the source, in the farms where they are being grown.
Environmental destruction
Coffee is grown in rainforests, which are some of the most diverse and endangered parts of the planet. Returning to the original traditions, coffee would be produced under the shade of the rainforest's canopy. Due to the high demand for coffee, farmers have moved to grow the plants in direct sunlight. In order to accomplish this in these diverse locations, farmers have resorted to clear-cutting the rainforests to create new plots for the coffee.
Erosion
Coffee plantations are found at high elevations, and with the removal of forest areas, there is an increase in erosion. In order to increase the yield of coffee crops and ensure there is no loss, farmers use pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, and fungicides. As erosion progresses, these agrochemicals run down to areas that are below the plantations, poisoning inhabitants, humans, animals, and marine life.
Slavery and child labor
In a study conducted in 2016, coffee titans such as Nestlé and Jacobs Douwe Egberts openly admitted that they "may" sell coffee where working conditions resembled slavery. Coffee has been found to be one of the top industries using enslaved children for production, particularly in nations such as Guatemala and Colombia.
Exploitation of farmers and workers
Coffee plantations are found in nations such as Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Central America. These farmers are faced with grueling work as coffee crops only have a single season per year, which is only one chance for these farmers to turn a profit. In the United States, crop contracts are paid out multiple times a year, and farmers can rest assured that the government insures the crops themselves.
Farmers in nations such as Central America have no protection for any loss of their crops due to droughts or infection.
These coffee farmers are only paid once a year after their beans are sold at harvest time. The payment amount? Farmers have been found to earn less than a dollar per pound for their beans.
In Brazil, which is one of the largest global producers of coffee, forty percent of agricultural workers in Brazil are estimated to earn $190 per month. This is less than 25% of what Brazil's Federal Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (DIEESE) considers a living wage for a family to cover expenses.
Comparing profit margins
Let's begin by looking at Starbucks, America's largest and most popular coffee shop chain. Its net revenues for solely the North America segment grew 6% (15% on a 13-week basis) in Q4 FY21 to $6.1 billion in Q4 FY22.
In a recent U.S. survey, it was found that 14.4 percent of respondents are found to be spending more than $40 a month in coffee shops. To make coffee at home, 11.4 percent reported spending (at a minimum) $40, and 31 percent of respondents spend up to $20 monthly. This amounts to an average of $33.30 that American coffee drinkers spend monthly, with a total of $399.60 per year on coffee.
In comparison, a small farmer with very low productivity (Farmer A), even with a 24 percent net profit, will only make a profit of $21 a month, or $247 a year. The turnaround for their profit margins only improves slightly when that farmer is able to produce at least 15 bags per hectare (Farmer B).
Can coffee be ethically sourced?
Fairtrade America proposes a living income strategy, calculating that the export price would have to be $2.00 per pound for a farming household in Colombia to earn a livable income. Not only is that export price double the current market price, it is, even more ironically, 43 percent more than the recent Fairtrade Minimum Price.
Fairtrade even openly admits that the living income strategy includes increasing productivity and selling more coffee on their Fairtrade terms. They also stated, "It is simply not possible to ask farmers to grow their way out of poverty at current price levels." We couldn't agree more.
So what is the solution?
Honesty is the best policy. Even with all of this information, we know that Americans won't stop their daily Starbucks run to boycott current export prices and fair wages, nor would we ask you to.
Firstly, major coffee companies would need to pay a fair price for their beans, but raising the Fairtrade Minimum Price results in Fairtrade farmers losing sales. Shoppers can show their support by buying Fairtrade.
As it seems that fair pricing won't be happening anytime soon, other programs, like the PECA program, helps coffee growers improve the quality and quantity of their harvests by reducing phytosanitary risks and reducing production costs.
What else can shoppers do?
Look out for these labels on the coffee bags you are purchasing:
Organic
Items with the USDA Organic seal are verified by government-accredited inspectors and require that the farm uses no synthetic pesticides, has a plan to prevent excess erosion, and is spaced enough that non-organic fertilizers and pesticides won't spread.
Fair Trade Certified
Only labels with the complete phrase "Fair Trade Certified" require a minimum price per pound to the farmer, such as $1.40 for non-organic and $1.70 for organic, with a $0.20 community-development premium. "Fair Trade," alone with no association with Fairtrade International or Fair Trade USA has no validity.
Where can I buy ethically sourced coffee?
We recommend Ethical Bean and Equator Coffees to purchase your coffee, which was founded solely to protect and support coffee farmers worldwide.
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