Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.
Issue link: http://freshcup.epubxp.com/i/66983
TRENDS continued from page 18 Exchange and a handful of other roasters. Add to that jumble the fact that FTUSA altered its own logo as part of the Fair Trade for All push and that the Institute for Marketology (IMO), yet another certifying body (known for its Fair for Life mark), is grabbing more attention, and you have a fair-trade landscape that is forcing roasters into some tricky soul searching. Do they continue working with Fair Trade USA and support the organization's new ideas about growth and farmer eligibil- ity? Or do they switch allegiances to other organizations that retain the cooperative-only model but feature logos without the U.S. market recognition of FTUSA's? "The short answer is, 'I'm just not sure,'" says Richard Duncan of Addison Coffee Roasters in Addison, Texas, a company that is a current FTUSA licensee. "While I am more comfortable with the original, 'purer' fair- trade concept, I am doubtful of switching to alternative cer- tifications." He adds that many of his company's wholesale accounts rely on the FTUSA logo and marketing materials to brand their establishments. Darren Pierce is co-owner of Massachusetts-based Pierce Bros. Coffee Roasting, a FTUSA licensee that offers a 100 percent fair- trade product line. He plans to remain committed to FTUSA, saying the estate pilot program should be given a chance to prove itself. "This is a system that's taken so long to establish," he says. "I'd rather hear more debate and see what happens as opposed to just condemning it so soon." FTUSA, for its part, has remained diplomatic throughout the clearly trying process, even while former allies have grilled the group in public forums. Mary Jo Cook, the organization's chief impact officer, says the idea of several different fair-trade labels in the U.S. market isn't one that bothers her. IMO and others, in fact, have co-existed with FTUSA (formerly called Transfair) for years. "At the core, fair trade is a movement, not a brand," Cook says, noting that fair-trade coffee still only represents about 5 percent of the total U.S. market. "The way a movement like this is most likely to grow is when you have different organizations tak- ing different approaches, all under the same umbrella. The more organizations who are doing things to get the word out about fair trade, frankly, the better." But other stakeholders say there's only so long that multiple fair-trade voices can continue trying to chirp in the ear of coffee companies and consumers. "We are entering a kind of marketplace competition that you saw, for example, with BluRay and DVD HD," says Equal Exchange spokesperson Rodney North. "Which of these seals, if any, will establish a dominant position?" Most small roasters' biggest wish at this point is for the movement to regain a sense of cohesiveness. That's not the direction the situation seems headed, however. "I am discour- aged that it is happening, especially in a time when some are already casting doubt on the fair-trade concept, and even the validity of certifications in general," says Addison's Duncan. "I understand that there are reasonable arguments on both sides of the issue, but it seems likely that the split will further erode the public's faith in the concept and will certainly turn more roasters against fair trade." MORE TRENDS TO KEEP TRACK OF RESPONSE TO GLOBAL WARMING The notion of rising temperatures and altered weather patterns in coffee-producing regions is nothing new to anyone who has attended an industry trade show or talked to a producer rep in the last five years. But recently, the tide has shifted from discussions and studies about climate change to actual action. The SCAA's annual Sustainability Award, for instance, was awarded to California-based Thanksgiving Coffee earlier this spring. The roaster was honored for its ongoing work helping the 1,800-member Dukunde Kawa co-op in Rwanda deal with new weather patterns that have the potential to wreak havoc on production. The thrust of the project is the development of shade- tree nurseries near the coffee fields. The plantings will be used to cool farms, protect coffee trees and stabilize topsoil. The project, conceptualized by co-op members, also involves several NGOs that add funding and logistical expertise, and it has resulted in the planting of more than 170,000 shade trees in two years. Another example of on-the-ground work to address the current climate realities can be seen in a new Rainforest Alliance "climate friendly" verification that has been awarded to a pair of farms— Finca El Platanillo in Guatemala and Daterra in Brazil. To gain the verification, the farms focus on both cutting their own emissions 20 COFFEE ALMANAC 2012 COURTESY OF RAINFOREST ALLIANCE