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 As the world's largest consumer of coffee, the United States consumes one fifth of the world's coffee supply. In recent times, coffee drinkers have become accustomed to having a plethora of choices when it come to their morning joe. While contemplating what "flavor" of coffee they fancy, most people don't put much thought into where the coffee comes from or how it's made. Now, we're not talking about which store it was bought from or how skilled the barista was who served it, but rather how the beans were grown, who picked the beans, what effect the whole process had on the environment, and how all of the people involved in getting your coffee from the beans on the tree to the drink in your cup conducted their business. Ok, first things first…A little background on the coffee industry and why fair trade is so important…
Human Rights Coffee is the number one food import and the second largest import of any kind into the US, right behind oil. Because there is almost no coffee grown in the United States, virtually all coffee consumed here by the 130 million coffee drinkers, is grown in foreign countries with very loose human rights policies. Since coffee is traded as a commodity, prices are dictated by market conditions and the price of coffee beans is often lower than the farmers' cost of production. In some countries, coffee is actually grown on plantations where workers are indebted servants who work in
 abysmal conditions for such low pay and long hours that some bring their children, as young as eight years old, to work with them. Human rights violations and serious abuse is not uncommon in this mega-industry which "employs" more than 20 million people worldwide. Because of the shear volume of people working in the coffee industry, improved farming and trade practices can yield a huge impact on a lot of people. Environmental Impact Most fair trade coffee is grown on smaller farms that do not tear out
 forests to create plots to grow on. Small farmers typically disperse their plants throughout a region rather than occupying huge tracts of land for their crops and often plant shade trees, which helps protect certain species of birds. Fair trade farmers are also held to much higher standards in terms of ecological planning for environmental sustainability. What Does Fair Trade actually mean? Fair trade is not only a way of doing business, it is a set of guidelines closely monitored by the Fair Trade Federation that allow small farmers to be paid fairly for their crops and ensures that farm workers are not subjected to sub-human working conditions. Fair trade is achieved through a network of cooperative workplaces that not only empowers small farmers to join together and sell their coffee for a fair price, but also helps provide a means for doing so by providing credit assistance and technical support to promote the growth of these small businesses. The added revenue stream actually benefits entire communities by helping to develop local infrastructure by building schools and giving people access to health care that may have never had access to it previously.
But wait! There's more… The Fair Trade Federation, the primary trade association in North America that promotes fair trade practices, identifies seven basic tenets of fair trade. The principles include "environmentally sustainable" eco-safe farming practices, fair wages, consumer education, cooperative workplaces, respect for cultural identity, financial support for workers, and public accountability. Most, but not all, fair trade coffee is also organic. While many people are under the impressions that all organic coffee is fair trade and all fair trade coffee is organic, it is not. While it is true that the majority of fair trade coffee is organic, to be truly socially and environmentally aware, ensure that that you buy only fair trade organic coffee.
Let 4th Generation Market & Cafe take the guess work out of your coffee buying - All coffee sold at 4th Generation is fair trade and, like everything else in our store, it's all organic!
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