A Brief History Of The Current Situation

Throughout its 1500-year history our love affair with coffee has continually grown and evolved. From the early days as a medicinal, to its current status as a beverage as intricate and appreciated as wine, coffee has always been held in fascination and high regard by poets, philosophers, kings and paupers alike.

So popular became this drink that only petroleum surpasses its value in the world market. With an annual value of some $36 billion (in 2001), its similarities to petroleum end there. The extravagant lifestyles that most petroleum producers enjoy stands in stark contrast to most coffee producers who are engaged in a daily struggle to simply get by. With a long history of boom and bust cycles, the coffee market most recently crashed in 1995 — about the same time that the specialty coffee market began to enjoy considerable profits and popularity. Caused by a massive surplus in the production, this crash is lasting far longer, and its consequences more severe, than anyone could have predicted. With over half of the world's coffee produced by small family farmers on less than 13 acres — many with far less — the impacts have been extreme.

Current coffee prices are less than even the production costs for many farmers throughout the world and yet still the largest companies in the industry continue to make millions of dollars every year. With no money for labor during harvest, children are being pulled from schools, the most basic social services like health care and education are eroding, debts are skyrocketing and family lands are being sold at a fraction of their value to pay creditors. With the land that once sustained them gone - both in cash and food crops - farmers are moving into a cycle of poverty that has deep and lasting consequences for millions of people and entire countries.

The EcoTeach Answer

While the Fair Trade and Organic movements have been a step in the right direction, neither one individually addresses the long-term, systemic issues plaguing coffee production. Organic certification nets farmers a much higher price for their crops but involves a three-year process that cuts their production up to 40% by some estimates. To an already struggling farmer who is wary of the future stability of such a move, it is a change that represents a huge gamble. For most, just beginning this three-year process is, financially, the beginning of the end. It also represents a truly massive change in the way things have been done for some farmers' entire lives - a change not easy to swallow without education and consideration and respect for these cultures.

Likewise, Fair Trade certification, while an excellent and admirable program, is often too high a bar to set for smaller farmer organizations that are interested in improving their position but need to take incremental steps that will allow them to get back on their feet.

At EcoTeach, we seek to take the best of both programs, insist on Shade Grown practices, and then seek the best coffee within that arena. We are seeking farmers, cooperatives and less organized farmer collectives who show a true and lasting desire to do the right things and keep as much of the labor (roasting and bagging) as possible in Costa Rica to keep profits and jobs within the communities we work with.

We look for environmental stewardship. Like CoopeDota who has just installed new dryers this year that burn the skins of dried beans —called castillas (parchment) — instead of wood for fuel and will save 150 acres of trees annually while reducing pollution output.

We look for socially conscious organizations like farmer cooperatives that assure health care, low interest loans, supplies and education to their members on health issues surrounding the use of pesticides and herbicides. Our partners provide organic alternatives and encourage their increased use wherever possible.

Most importantly, we look for a commitment to long-term change. New, coffee-specific certifications like Utz Kapeh addresses the full range of issues for coffee producers and will become part of our program in the Spring of 2004 from the farmers of CoopAtenas. Utz Kapeh represents a rather attainable entrance level for certification but immediately puts farmers on a conveyor belt of positive and lasting change that comes incrementally, minimizing upfront costs to farmers yet introducing sustainability through education and cooperative efforts.

And after all of this, we ensure that at least $1 from every single bag we sell is given directly back to Costa Rica through the EcoTeach Foundation and its many education and conservation initiatives. Sea Turtle research and conservation, reforestation, volunteer projects, community service, educational supplies and opportunities for the local populations — these are but a few of the projects your purchases will help to improve and expand.

The US consumes 20% of the world's coffee. As such, we wield amazing power on the global stage by simply making responsible purchases and creating higher demand for responsibly and sustainably produced products. EcoTeach is proud to have been able to do the research directly in Costa Rica and to have met individually with many farmers' groups to assure you the most responsible options in your coffee purchases.

Now the choice is yours.

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