The power of choice

I have to admit something...

There's a little secret that I feel I should share...

I love coffee... There, I said it! I know everyone says it's bad for you, and that it can become an addiction, but I can't help it! If you shake a little cinnamon into your grounds before you brew it, it's wonderful. It gives it this little extra flavor that is both spicy and sweet… I also like those flavoured creamers, call me girly, but amaretto is the most beautiful experience. Right now, I’m sitting here with a cup of chilled amaretto coffee in hand and relishing about how awesome it tastes.

But do you know the truth about that cuppa brew in your hand? We live in Alberta, where a large part of our identity is that of prairie farmers. Here, our farmers can get crop insurance, and have a general guarantee of price of product. That doesn't mean that they have it easy, mind you. Farming is very hard and can be a struggle, especially when crops fail and droughts make watering large fields difficult.

Imagine what it's like in the communities that produce that cup of coffee that your drinking. I know the favourites are Colombian, Peruvian, and Guatemalan. These coffee farmers aren't guaranteed anything at all, and are actually at the mercy of international market demand curves. That means their pay rises and falls based around how much unroasted, green coffee beans that international companies are purchasing. Companies pay per pound, and prices have previously fallen below ten cents a pound. That's right, I said cents. Can you imagine labouring all day, for weeks, and receiving less than ten cents a pound for your product? This is often not enough to even cover the costs put into the beans, and doesn't come close to paying the workers, farmers, and people that have to handle and transport the goods.

With such low incomes, families are unable to send their children to school, provide medical services to them, and feed them wholesome meals. Did you know coffee is pushed on in developing countries as a 'golden opportunity'? If more people produce coffee, then the market is flooded with it, and the price they have to pay drops even further! People cut down their forests, clear cut, and uproot everything they know to try and make a better life for themselves, which in the end, often falls through. Before it reaches your cup, it often goes through between eight and fourteen different hands before it reaches the shelf. This is why it gets marked up, and up, and up going from ten cents, to that $6.00 pound of grounds.

Oh no, don't worry, there's hope! Lots of it! This isn't a blog about how destitute and devious the world is!

Let's jump to a little hut in the Ecuadorian Rain Forest, stretching along the Amazon. It smells fresh and clean, and you're walking along a small path to meet a community in Junin that produces Fair Trade coffee. Kids run around playing with a dirty basketball, and one chases a chicken across the path.

But what is Fair Trade coffee?

Fair Trade is social movement that guarantees the producer of a product is guaranteed a price for their goods that meets their needs for a sustainable future. It means they can pay their workers enough to feed, clothe, and send their families to school and provide proper health care. It also guarantees that the coffee being produced is grown under environmentally friendly conditions, and looks towards a greener future. It goes through fewer outside hands, sometimes being roasted and packaged right in the hands of the community that grew it!

So why doesn't everyone buy Fair Trade coffee? Well... It tends to cost a little more than your average brew. Not a whole lot, mind you, and I guarantee the quality of the product you're getting far exceeds anything you'd find in a tin canister on a shelf in a supermarket.

When you decide to buy Fair Trade, you're making a stand against the ways that big corporations take advantage of small producers. You're saying that you're not going to be taken advantage of as a consumer, and at the same time, sending a message that things need to change.

YOU HAVE A VOICE! Use it!

Every time you go to a coffee place to get a cup, ask them if they they're brewing Fair Trade.
I did it every time I went to Starbucks in the local Safeway, and guess what? Last time I was there, I got myself a freshly brewed cup of Fair Trade Peruvian coffee. People will listen, and if enough people take a stand, even big companies are going to have to take notice. In 1998, more than 21,500 kilograms of Fair Trade coffee was sold in Canada. By 2004, Canadians bought more than 940,000 kilograms! It's a movement that you should know about. Fair Trade is not limited to coffee; it spans to handicrafts, cocoa, tea, honey, cotton, fruit, all sorts of things!

So what do you think? Do you think Fair Trade is right for you? Do you think there's a place in the market for this type of product, especially if more people are informed about what Fair Trade is? I know it's not for everyone, it depends on the individual and their financial situation... but maybe now that you know what it is, because a lot of people don't, you'll ponder on it next time your grabbing a cup.

I dare you to try it...
(It’s delicious)


( For more Information...
Fair Trade Foundation - http://transfair.ca/
Fair Trade made simple! - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade )