| Daniel
Jaffee is a sociologist at Washington
State University. His book, Brewing
Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability and Survival, was
published in 2007 by University
of California Press and won Planeta.com's 2007
Book of the Year Award.
This vivid study of coffee farmers in Mexico offers the first
thorough investigation of the social, economic, and environmental
benefits of fair trade. Based on extensive research in Zapotec
indigenous communities in the state of Oaxaca,
Brewing Justice
follows the members of the cooperative Michiza, whose organic
coffee
is sold on the international fair
trade market. It compares these families to conventional farming
families in the same region, who depend on local middlemen and
are vulnerable to the fluctuations of the world coffee market.
We are asking Dan some timely questions about fair trade and the
evolving international movement.
For starters, could you briefly describe your background
and interest in fair trade? And can you summarize the key argument
of your book?
The main question I address in Brewing
Justice is whether it is possible to achieve greater economic
and social justice through the marketplace? The book has two story
lines: one local, one global. At the local level, I ask whether
fair
trade makes a difference in the lives and livelihoods of small
coffee farmers, their families and their communities....in other
words, is it working? Here I focus on a case study of fair trade
in action: a comparison of organized indigenous coffee producers
in Oaxaca, Mexico
who sell their organic coffee on the international fair trade
market, and their neighbors who sell their conventional coffee
onto the global market through local intermediaries, or coyotes.
At the international level, I ask whether fair trade can transform
the 'big market.' Is it capable of altering the larger terms of
commodity trade? Or is the global market instead transforming
the fair trade alternative? Here I focus on the international
fair trade movement and its charged politics, especially some
current controversies centering around the role of transnational
companies who are increasingly entering the fair trade certification
arena, shifting the balance of power within that system.
In other words, what happens when a social justice movement based
on an alternative market the draws the participation of some of
the biggest corporate food conglomerates -- the main players in
the deeply unjust global market. Can that market continue to be
transformative?
These trends illustrate some of the challenges and deep contradictions
of addressing goals of social justice and social development through
market mechanisms.
As for how I got involved in this research: I have been working
in rural Mexico since 1992 on a range of projects: conservation
programs with U.S. and Mexican youth, teaching field courses through
the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I did my graduate work.
My research looks at the effects of 'free' trade and neoliberal
economic policies on the options for rural people to determine
their own models for sustainable livelihoods. My masters thesis
research focused on the Mexican community forestry movement --
in particular a case study in the state of Michoacán
-- and how these initiatives were affected by the opening of the
timber products market both before and under NAFTA.
I'm also a dedicated coffee drinker. I became interested in fair
trade as a positive model for trading under an alternative set
of rules, which has the potential to escape the most destructive
social and ecological effects of volatile global commodity markets.
I established a relationship with Michiza, a statewide organization
of indigenous coffee producers in Oaxaca, and conducted the research
for the book in two Zapotec communities in the Sierra
Juárez where the organization is active.
A week ago there was considerable debate among the producers
/ venders at Oaxaca City's Pochote
Market. A few of the venders would like to pursue organic
certification. Others are pointing out that buying organic sugar
or flour from Sam's Club does little to help the local economy.
The proponents are mostly those who export -- mezcal and coffee
-- and are pushing for a local organization to conduct the certification.
I read with interest a news story from the UK paper The
Independent -- Food
miles: The true cost of putting imported food on your plate:
"If we want to help growers in poor countries, we must appreciate
the difference between Fairtrade and organic labels - whether
or not we are about the environment. Fairtrade guarantees that
individual producers have earned a living wage and that their
community has accrued some further benefits from the trade. Organic
certification agencies have always been silent on the question
of wages and are not a guarantee of food that is ethically or
equitably grown."
So here are my questions -- are we being bullied into
certification efforts that do not assist local economies? How
does one evaluate the reputation of certification schemes? What
sort of fair trade options do local market venders and customers
have?"
It is true that fair trade is currently the only certification
that speaks in meaningful ways to the social conditions of production--prices
for farmers (or in some cases wages for laborers), the need for
access to credit, democratic forms of producer organization. Organic
certification, on the other hand, addresses questions of physical
inputs and production processes--whether or not crops are produced
with synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. However, while demand
for organics stems largely from consumer concerns about health
and ecological integrity, eliminating agrochemicals clearly benefits
the health of workers as well.
You also ask about the options of vendors and small farmers in
the global South who are producing for and selling to local markets.
It's understandable that people see organic certification as one
path to added value--there is the potential of a price premium
if local consumers are willing to pay more for organics. Mexico
and several other nations have seen in recent years the development
of national certifiers, which reduce costs of organic inspection
and certification, and provide more culturally appropriate services.
Mexico is also home to a very interesting initiative--the first
in the global South--that has created a fair trade certification
system for the domestic market. It's called Comercio
Justo Mexico and is now recognized by the international body
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) as one of the 20 national
certification initiatives worldwide.
However, the truth is that currently, neither organic nor fair
trade certifications provide customers with any information about
the larger business practices of the companies whose products
bear these labels. Fair trade has attracted the participation
of large corporate retailers including Nestle', Coca-Cola, Procter
& Gamble, Starbucks that purchase a token percentage of their
total supply under fair trade prices/terms, but the seal doesn't
help consumers distinguish these players from the smaller, 'ethical'
or 'movement-oriented' retailers with long-term relationships
in producer communities, who sell 100% fair trade products and
who pioneered the fair trade movement.
These divergent approaches also play out around questions of
the appropriate level of the fair trade minimum (or base) prices,
which in coffee have lost a significant percentage of their purchasing
power to inflation. There is now a growing internal effort within
the fair trade movement that aims to address some of these concerns.
But many small farmers who are disadvantaged by the unfair terms
of trade in the global economy (and the hypocrisy of continuing
export agricultural subsidies by rich country governments) are
finding that their best bet is actually outside the formal certification
systems altogether--in more local arrangements loosely grouped
under the term ;solidarity economy.; The solidarity economy movement
is growing rapidly, especially within Latin America. See for example:
Economia
Solidaria.
Now that I have read your book, I have a better understanding
of how you approach these issues. The writing is first-rate. You
spent considerable time in Oaxaca and witnessed first-hand how
the fluctuations in coffee prices affected rural communities.
In Oaxaca City we see the growth of a number of cafes,
some of which work with small-scale producers. Do you have any
suggestions on what consumers in Oaxaca should look for or what
consumers outside Mexico should look for when buying coffee from
Oaxaca? Also, do you have any suggestions about how businesses
in Mexico could improve their linkages to rural communities?
I've spent plenty of time in Oaxaca
City and have enjoyed many of the cafes on that list. Consumers
who are looking to make a positive impact on farmer livelihoods
with their coffee purchases might want to ask a few key questions:
1) Does the coffee come from small farmers or from estates/plantations?
More than 2/3 of the world's coffee (and a similar proportion
of Mexico's) is grown by small producers, typically on their own
small plots of land. While there are certainly some progressive
estates with enlightened labor and environmental practices, it
is small campesino (and especially indigenous) coffee farmers
who are the most vulnerable to the volatile terms of trade in
the global market, and who are also the stewards of the most ecologically-diverse
shade coffee lands in Mexico and the Americas.
2) If the source is small producers, are they organized? The international
fair trade system only certifies coffee from organized small producers,
which typically means they have joined together in democratically-controlled
cooperatives or associations. Banding together cooperatively increases
farmers' power in the marketplace and allows them to negotiate
with buyers on a more even footing.
3) What is the nature of the relationship between the cafe or
roaster and the producers who grow their coffee? The fair trade
system, despite its flaws, does stipulate minimum prices, long-term
trading relationships and the availability of pre-harvest financing.
If the coffee is not certified, does the roaster/retailer engage
in these practices, and how is that documented?
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