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Message |
rrebecca
Member
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# Posted: 23 Dec 2006 00:13
Reply
Fair trade is better than slave labor. However, I do not want to buy coffee "fair trade", meaning a business pays $1.26 or $1.44 to the farmer, then grinds it up, puts it in a shiny bag, or a unique-looking paper bag, with fancy artwork, then slaps an eight or nine dollar price on it and mounts some nice ad campaign.
I want to buy coffee directly from the farmer who grows the coffee in Ethiopia. The farmers need to set aside some of their harvest and sell it directly to consumers like me. Let us know how to contact you directly. Forget the middleman and their fancy bags and nonsense.
I want to buy the plain old coffee. Not to re-sell it, but so I can drink it myself. I do not need to pay for someone to market food to me. I know that I need to eat.
I will give the Ethiopian farmer that same eight dollars a pound, or whatever I would pay to cover the fancy advertising and other business expenses of the coffee buyers. Think of it, that is $8 for one pound, as compared to $1.44 per pound. I can cover shipping as well.
I will buy in bulk if it is necessary, or start a group where everyone of my friends who drinks coffee buys coffee from the same farmers.
It is time the Ethiopians who grow coffee get all the money for their labor. That is my opinion.
Please tell your farmers about me, give them my email address.
auspiciousbunny@yahoo.com
What I call fair is this: You, the farmer, grow the coffee. I, the coffee drinker, buy the coffee.
Thanks,
Rebecca
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Charlie M
Member
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# Posted: 24 Feb 2007 03:45
Reply
Hi Rebecca,
I agree in a perfect world we could all buy coffee roasted at origin and shipped from the cooperatives, however transportation logistics and freshness issues make this impractical.
However today I had an interesting conversation with Francisco VanderHoff Boersma who in 1981, (thanks Wikipedia...) participated in the launch of UCIRI (Union de Comunidades Indigenas de la Region del Istmo), a coffee producer cooperative created to bypass local traders (also called coyotes) and pool resources. On November 15, 1988, the two launched together the first Fairtrade labelling initiative, Max Havelaar. The initiative offered disadvantaged coffee producers following various social and environmental standards a fair price, significantly above the market price, for their crop. The coffee, originating from the UCIRI cooperative, was imported by Dutch company Van Weely, roasted by Neuteboom and then sold directly to world shops and retailers across the Netherlands. The initiative was a great success and was replicated in several other markets. In 2005, labelled Fairtrade sales amounted to approximately €1.1 billion (around $2.2 billion) worldwide. As per October 2006, 586 certified producer organizations in 58 developing countries were Fairtrade certified.
Anyway Francisco who took time off from the harvest and was good enough to come to Canada said how the UCIRI cooperative has been roasting its own coffee and selling it as Fair Trade Certified right in Mexico in surrounding states. They hope to eventually sell all their coffee right in the country of origin. This is a hopeful light in the Fair Trade Certified movement when awareness spreads to the producing countries consumers of the connection between their morning cup of coffee and the farmers in their country who grow it and have been devastated by the price crisis.
When coffee is processed to the 'green bean' state it keeps very well and is suitable for travelling long distances by ship and other economical means of travel. Unfortunately coffee after roasting starts immediately degrading in quality. The best coffee is locally roasted and Fair Trade Certified (look for the logo). Unfortunately it is prohibitively expensive to roast in country of origin and supply the North American market. The best you can do to support the cooperatives is to buy only Fair Trade Certified coffee from a local preferably 100% Fair Trade Certified coffee roaster (admittedly a little biased as I am one).
Charlie M.
Sidney Coffee Co.
Sidney BC
Canada
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Charlie Schmidt
Member
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2007 07:27
Reply
Rebecca,
You are not alone in this concept, and do not let Charlie M. side-track the conversation by stating how great Fair Trade is for farmers. You have a very good idea!
Fair Trade is by far the best option consumers have, but don't kid yourself, it is still not enough. I don't mean to beat up on Charlie M. and the rest of the suppliers, they are trying the best they can. But you touched on a very important issue, Rebecca, we still pay middle-men a tremendous amount of money to ship, package and sell us Fair Trade coffee. And while the farmers make more selling under the Fair Trade label, it is extremely difficult to gaurantee sales (as the film even shows). The farmers deserve more!
Charlie M. is wrong about one thing, and he even gave it away - green beans travel very well! You, and your friends should be able to buy bulk grean beans. You can roast green beans in a number of ways, there are table top rosters that work great (I have seen them demonstrated in Guatemala, they just don't sell them here). Some folks have even perfected roasting green beans in popcorn poppers (again, I have seen this demonstrated). If people had the mind, they could develop roasters and sell them as applilances (hell, no one thought they would GRIND their own coffee twenty years ago, but now a small grinder is a staple of good coffee)
I have talked to local roasters, and they cannot get bulk beans very cheap, so the usual means of shipping are restricted. I talked to coffee growers in Guatemala when I visited, and they cannot get their beans, Fair Trade or Free Market, shipped except through middle-men. And therein lies the problem.
Coffee is a food - and food, especially such large commodities like tea, coco, bananas, corn, rice, etc. are very tighly controlled. A few different desease and pest outbreaks over the centuries have scared governments into locking down open trade of food. Think about why you can't bring fruit or any type of unprocessed food back from a trip to say... Mexico. I have spoken to growers in Central America about sending me green beans directly (UPS, FEdEx and DHL go anywhere!) but they are not allowed to even sell their products in there own country unless they go through the trade firms, of which there are few (again, think of the middle-men). One brave owner of a coffee shop admitted to me that he drives up to the hills of Lake Atitlan and buys direct, smuggles the beans back to his shop. He can be thrown in jail for that!
These regulations are promoted by governments to protect us, and in most cases they do! Food is sensative. Cross polination can change breeds of plants. Bugs can devestate crops. And if outbreaks happen, well, we know what Mad-Cow desease can do. But green coffee beans? Where is the harm? Coffee plants do not grow outside the tropics, so there are no plants to contaminate where I live, and to my knowledge, "coffee rust" does not affect other plants. Bugs might be a problem, but can be treated, and again, I have not heard of bugs eating grean beans, but I am not a biologist.
The fact is, where there is a will, there is a way. Fair Trade Coffee is still traded under the "hour-glass" syndrome. Lots of growers, lots of consumers, but the problem is in the middle, where the "sand" trickles through. We can develop a better way.
My thought is to free up coffee. Take it off the food list, and let growers sell directly through shipping companies. Hell, I would be willing to travel to Mexico or other parts of Central America and buy direct, and bring it back with me, plenty of other industies can do. People go on buying trips for furniture, jewelry, clothing - but coffee is ristricted. You would not even get a chance to purchase the beans in its home country. And therein, again, lies the problem. It would take a tremendous effort to do this, though I am hopeful.
Fair Trade is a start, but there is still too much money spent on packeging, sales and marketing. Fair Trade is after all, a very competitive and growing market, and when it comes to commodities the competition is rigged! There is no free or fair market when it comes to commodities (oil, coffee, tea, fruit), never has been, and probably never will be. There is a lot of money to be made in Fair Trade, and the majority of it will still be made by the middle-men, they will just take a little less profit in order to sell us northern consumers a new product.
The only immediate solution is to stop drinking coffee. I did. And it was VERY hard. I don't want to buy it even as Fair Trade, because I agree with you. I should be able to buy it directly from the source, and pay only the farmer and independent third party that ships it (like DHL, who doesn't care what the package looks like, they will mail it). On a similar note, I don't want to buy organic peppers from Holland, or Natural Ice Cream from California - it defeats the purpose. I have tried to restrict my diet to food that is grown regionally. I know that is not always possible, especially for folks way up north, and of course, that means we don't get to enjoy coffee! Harsh reality, but the worst of the commodities I try to cut out or cut back (oil, fruit, diamonds, gold, flowers and coffee) I can live without them and try to help farmers in my region (Eastern US)
Some farmers I spoke with in Central America would like to stop selling coffee, and concentrate on subsistance farming, but there land is too valuable, coffee grows in just a small portion of land, and there is a tremendous demand for by the north for coffee.
So we are somewhat trapped. Until we can mobilize enough people in the north to understand the issues and take a concerted effort to change trade. I still have hope, and I believe change is coming. One day, I would like to put Charlie M., and the rest of the middle men out of a job.
If you have read this far, thank you for hearing my rant, hope it was worth the time,
Charlie Schmidt
Richmond, VA, USA
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john sargis
Member
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2007 03:48
Reply
Why is it so hard to get in contact with these farmers? I would have thought the first thing the co-ops would have set up would be a mechanism to sell green beans (or even roasted beans) to individuals.
I did find this though :
http://communityagroecology.net/fairtradedirect.ht m
it's a costa rican coop which roasts the coffee and you can buy it directly from the co-op. they say $3.77 goes to the farmers. I plan to buy as soon as I get done with this post.
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arondo2757
Member
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2007 17:29
Reply
Hello I own Hondo Coffee Company in Northern Virginia and I felt that fair trade is a sham I pay the workers on my farm in Honduras very well as well as the pickers and had in the first year shipped my coffee air freight at a cost of 1.20 cents a pound and it was still was cost effective. As I have grown this year I purchased green coffee of excellent quality at 1.75 a pound direct to the producer no middle men. This was on March 29 at a coffee competition near my farm I as well had them agreed to have a notarized document of contract though they said it was not necessary but I explained it is the only way I can validate the price. Then I registered growers as Certified Hondo Coffee Grower my Forman there will inspect the farms make recommendations and see that they attend all of the programs offered by ETEA an aid group out of Spain That is doing a great job there the growers have the ability to grow excellent coffee but have seen so few monetary results that the are disheartened .I was swamped by Growers and Coops that want in on my program but my sales currently are limited But I pay for quality and they know what they will get before the coffee blooms long before the harvest and they try to grow and process the best that they can . All the biggies in coffee know that the commodity value of coffee should be 2 dollars plus I favor percent labels that says what percent of the cost goes to the farmer or grower certified label of the country of origin from by charitable organizations such as World View or ETEA each country has different needs cost of living . I am currently involved with ETEA to address the issues of coffee in Honduras few of the growers have money to invest in roasters I am setting goals to build a Dry mill with a development school for the growers and reserve the 90 score coffees for direct sales to the public. Further I will be volunteering my time to aid in roasting skills as well as preparation and use of coffee as Americans do. To Charlie Schmidt of Richmond, VA, USA I am trying to arrange to sell at the 17th Street Farmers market this year http://www.hondocoffee.com/
Arondo Holmes
Hondo Coffee Company
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jbrenneis
Member
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2007 18:54
Reply
I am a direct volume importer of coffee from Central America. I bring container loads and get it roasted ground packaged and shipped here and can sell for 3.50 lb email me a jbrenneis@sbcglobal.net if there is any interest
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cindy
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2008 08:13
Reply
I am impressed that you wanted by coffee from farmers directly. I am one such. you may like contact me
cindyjingchen@gmail.com
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cindy
Member
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2008 08:20
Reply
we are coffee planters (very small scale)in southern part of india. We grow coffee in a hill station which is 2000mtrs above sea level. we roast it at home by woodfire. We are producting coffe in the biological way. ( no fertilizer and pesticides.) we are interested in suppling coffee beans (roasted/green) to genuine customers at small quantity. You are intersted pls let us know by email.
email: cindyjingchen@gmail.com
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higueraverde
Member
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2008 15:34
Reply
I have been reading many of the comments on the forum and it looks like many of us worry about the same: we would be glad paying the same money we pay in a shop when buying coffee but do it directly to the farmers. About Fair Trade Coffee I have one concern that makes me not to buy it: if it avoids part of the middle-man from the farmer to the shop where I can buy it, why is it more expensive than regular trade coffee? I know the idea is to give more to the farmers but that extra money should come from avoiding middle-man and not from me paying more. I hope my opinion is clear (excuse my poor English). I think my concern is the same many others have: what we all want is that the money we pay goes to the farmer and does not get lost on its way.
I have read all the quotes saying how difficult it is to buy coffee from the farmers and now I see the quote from cindy and one question comes to my mind, if she's saying she (a coffee planter) is interested in suppling coffee beans (roasted or green) to customers at small quantity why cannot the others do the same? Is there some trick here?
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augusto
Member
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2008 18:01
Reply
Hello Rebecca and everyone else too,
After I moved from Brazil to Portland, Oregon, I started importing coffee directly from my family's farm. The coffee is roasted locally here and we ship all over the United States. We like to think of our selves as having a 'family traded' coffee, and that is why we named our company 'Nossa Familia Coffee. Our purchase prices range from at least 50% to 100% ABOVE fairtrade prices. And to ensure that our farm is operated adequately, with responsible social and evironmental standards, we are certified by UTZ Kapeh. Please feel free to contact me via www.familyroast.com
Thanks, and good luck in your quest!
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golddiv
Member
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# Posted: 27 Apr 2008 00:43
Reply
I want a buy coffe directly from farmer^
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golddiv
Member
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# Posted: 7 May 2008 14:40
Reply
cindy
Hi Cindy!
I interested buy roasted coffe from you plant.
What is the price and quote?
My e-mail golddiv@hotmail.com
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missiongrounds
Member
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# Posted: 12 May 2008 03:27
Reply
Let me start by acknowledging I am the middle man you guys mention - I own Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee and give all my profits to orphans. I own an IT company too so no one draws a salary so all the profits go to kids. I am a US citizen but own a coffee farm in Costa Rica. The family I bought the farm from still farm it for free - I buy my coffee from the Co-Op my farm belongs to in Costa Rica
Here are the problems with Fair Trade and here are the problems with buying coffee directly from the farmer. In Costa Rica and as in most coffee countries the farmers you want to help don't have any resources or assets. Most dont have telephones or computers or any other means to know about Fair trade, so 95% of the poor farmers we want to help don't even know what fair trade is. And they don't have the resources to set up an on line business or to even pay the transportation costs. Most barely have running water ; some might even have electricity. And none have a FDA import licensce or the money to set up the bonds needed for Dept. of Agriculture import inspections.
Secondly almost all sale their coffee to a co -op or coffee roaster - its the only market they know or have - local sales. Fair Trade was set up for Americans to then be the middle man and have Americans feel good about themselves. In theory its a great idea - in practice it has done very little to help the small farmer. and in this cycle the worse off - are the laborers and children who pick the coffee - making lless than a $1 per hour. Do you think the farmers who are fair trade certified pass their extra money to the laborers? or the ones who aren't.
And the thing that is wrong about Fair Trade is you only have to certify you paid $ 1.26 per pound for the coffee - it doesn't matter who you paid. So a Starbucks can pay the middleman or the roaster - $1.26 and its certified Fair Trade. And this middle man may have paid the farmer $.40 and eveyone drinking Fair trade coffee from Starbucks thinks they are helping a farmer. Please drink some coffee and wake up to the truth.
So unless you travel to that poor farmers farm you have no chance of helping him directly. They just don't have the communications, resources, distribution to get their coffee to you. Plus the US requires all coffee to be roasted before it comes here. So even green coffee is roasted 10%. In a third world country very few people have the resources to buy a coffee roaster. so the coffee roaster controls the coffee. And the money. And hes the guy who is Fair Trade certified. And he keeps the extra money Fair Trade brings. Amazing the Americans came up with an idea that helps the rich get richer. And we feel good about it.
If you want to truly help buy Thousand Hills Coffee - they use the proceeds to help farmers and laborers in Africa. Or buy Mission Grounds Coffee which helps orphans and homeless kids with their profits.
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cindy
Member
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# Posted: 4 Jul 2008 10:08
Reply
Hi all,
We receive lot of mails from many nice people. but so far we aren't able to make it successful. Some people asked for samples. we did sent them before payment. Latter they sent us mail.. saying it was good. No response after that... it was not practical for us to do this because the post cost was much more higher than our product itself.
There sould be some central distributor at each country and after they receive a lot amount from farmers they should send to everone by post. here involves middle mans for sure.. but it is not so much. they should have the histroy of bill payed attached to every product sold to the end user. for example central buys from farmer he can record the price paid, the tax paid, the transport cost paid and his fixed profit cost. when he send them to end user, he can mention all these along with the final postal fee..
need real honest people to do this. I am not complaining any one.. but the situation is like this..
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montalvoht
Member
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# Posted: 18 Aug 2008 02:39
Reply
I am from an indigenous area where we select the seeds we plant them we grow the and finally the plants produce coffe all the young people imigrate to usa illigally becouse the coffe is really cheap and we cant eat just growing coffee all the areas where there used to be coffe plantations are now ugly, and badly maintained. but you go visit the village you will see old sad people becouse they cant work the lands any more and becouse they sons and doughters are here in the USA, and they cant visit them very easlly. Long time ago like when i was 10 years old the picture was different the prices was good. Like 12 years ago we started to have lots of trouble and alot of my people imigrated to the cities or they came illigally to USA in searh of oportunities because the life in thoese villages is really hard i lived there i grew up there and i know what it feels like many peolpe here don't understand the reallity we face, but what can we do i had been here 8 years and been observing and my question is why many companies have lots of money like Folgers, Starbucks, and others. The poor people there are dying of hunger or imigrating to USA i been observing and thinking that i need to go back to my homeland and organize my people. Show them how to sell their coffee in the right market but i still need someone who can help me with my dreams and ideas the coffe that we produce there has no chemicals because we cant afford them but we just need the organic certificate with cost money and alot of paper work it will be really amazing if i find someone who share my dreams and be the the contact to sell our coffee here in USA if you want to know more about me please feel free to contact me here is my email montalvoht@msn.com im form Zongolica Veracruz Mx.
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mambomedia
Member
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# Posted: 15 Jul 2009 08:37
Reply
Thanks Mission Grounds for clarifying the issues. Despite the industrialized world's consumption of coffee not too many people understand what is involved from the berry to the roasted bean. The film didn't really do much to lift the veil of confusion. I suppose they have sponsored this forum, which is productive. As Cindy's experience indicates, buying/selling directly by/from the farmer is almost impossible. And who is the farmer? Are we talking about the migrant Nicaraguan picking coffee on plantations in Costa Rica? This would be the person most in need but certainly not the person to contact for a DHL shipment of French Roast or even your "green" semitostado. I'm going to keep it short because I think the points have been made well.
Borikua
Montreal, Quebec
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Pablex05
Member
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2009 03:34
Reply
Hi, my name its Pablo Gonzalez, and i'm selling my coffe farm if some body its interest, its in Costa Rica un can contact me to this email :
CentralValleyFarm@gmail.com and also u can check the farm's webpage www.pablos-farm.com
here are some caracteristics of the farm:
- its a sustainable farm
- its in Heredia
- its about 15 minutes from Heredia downtown
- its about 45 minutes from the international airport
- its nestled on the side of a mountain(volcanic fertile earth)
- produce an amazing coffe
- has views to the mountains.. the central valley...a volcano...
- its less than 3 hours from diferents beaches
- Perfect for build(dont have any building)
- Agricultural and residential area
- its 25000m² (like 6.2 acres)
have a wonderful day
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magical127
Member
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# Posted: 3 Jan 2010 06:54
Reply
My husband and I are looking to obtain quality wholesale shipments of green coffee beans from Central America shipped to the DHL office in La Ceiba, Honduras, as that is the closest office to us. We have been trying to get in touch with several distributors, none of whom have gotten back to us, and we're starting to look at pursuing other options. Please email at magical127@gmail.com if you have a finca in Central America and produce high-quality beans, and are able to utilize DHL.
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AngerePed
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jan 2010 02:19
Reply
Happy New Year to everyone!
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marciop
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2010 17:17
Reply
Hello everyone!!!
I just read those articles above and I'd say: I know the way to solve this problem because I've been doing it.
By the next email I'm going to explain how it is possible to change this currently coffee trading reality.
Marcio Paoliello
Brazil Fair Trade Town Coordinator.
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northwestcaost
Member
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2010 02:02
Reply
Hi, I have read all these responses and am very interested in buying green beans directly from the farmer. is anyone out there willing to sell me some? i have contacted a few people but they were selling thousands of kilograms, i am looking for a much smaller number, like 10 or 50 kilograms, any advice of suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks, Niclarrivee@gmail.com
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arayason
Member
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2010 14:51
Reply
Hi
I would like to supply you with Kenya best quality Arabica coffee.
Arayason
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arayason
Member
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# Posted: 10 Feb 2010 14:58
Reply
Naftaly Arayason Import Export P.O. Box 694 – 00900 Kiambu Kenya. Fax 254 20 2090907 Phone 254 20 2090907, Mobile 254 725 918761 URL www.arayason.biz Email info@arayason.biz naftaly@arayason.biz
Naftaly Arayason Import Export is a leading Kenya producers and exporter of Coffee and Tea. The range of our product line, good quality, and competitive prices have made us one of the fastest growing companies of its kind in Kenya.
Located in Kiambu, we produce a wide variety of grades. These coffees and Teas are of good quality and are popular with customers. Our total production averages 2 million kilos per year, 90% for export and 10% for the domestic market.
We at Naftaly Arayason Co. will work with you to produce the types of coffee/Tea products that will sell well in your stores. We guarantee both our quality and on time delivery of shipments and our prices are very competitive.
For more information please email us info@arayason.biz
Naftaly Arayason
CEO
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arabica
Member
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# Posted: 11 Feb 2010 19:33
Reply
Hello. Rebecca.
My Name is Alec Nayler and I set up Brazilian Roast in 2007 after a charity trip to Brazil
see http://www.brazilianroast.com
I contact many many farmers each day trying to get them to advertise there coffee on my site. I am working hard in translating languages in order do do this.
The theory behinf this is
Coffee Farmers meets Consumer, Coffee Farmer, Consumer meet Freight Forwarders,Frieght Forwarders delievers at a reasonable price.
I am slowly becoming recognised however I need alot of help. If you like my project please help me spread the word to other at least so I can help the farmers contact customers directly instead of remaining under the thumb of multinationals
Independance and Free Choices - A common need
take care
Alec
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arabica
Member
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# Posted: 11 Feb 2010 19:38
Reply
Brazilian Coffee Farmers Markets
http://www.brazilianroast.com
http://www.brazilianroast.com
"Giving Credit where Credit is due" - BACK TO THE FARMERS
Please Tell every farmer you know.
This site can only survive with Coffee Farmers Participation
kind regards
Brazilian Roast
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SoilaVill
Member
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# Posted: 10 Mar 2010 12:21
Reply
Hey
I thought that I would introduce myself to the community forum.
I have noticed some good posts relating to your community forum consequently I have been visiting for a time being a visitor just checking it out.
So anyway, I've just in reality registered and believe I am able to contribute something valuable to network.
Lets hope that "Purchasing beans direct" is the right forum to put up this intro in, if not, remember to let me know.
Thanks
HocanoUgToogy
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danny
Member
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# Posted: 7 Apr 2010 09:18
Reply
hi ever one if any one to cooffee from direct from farmer . i am ethioian farmer who live in sidamo so please email me wubdanny@yahoo.com
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danny
Member
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2010 09:31
Reply
HI EVERY ONE . IF ANY ONE TO BUY COFFEE FROM DIRECT FARMER PLEASE EMAIL ME AT WUBDANNY @YAHOO.COM OR WUBCOFFEE@AOL.COM I CAN GET YOU BY THE WAY I AM ALSO A FARMER HERE IN SIDAMO.ONE MORE THING ANY PERSON TO INVEST HERE IN ETHIOIA AND NEED A SOL AGENT TO DEAL DIRCET TO THE FARMER LET ME KNOW . THANK YOU AND HAVE A GOOD DAY
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Uttetspootred
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2010 12:22
Reply
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Uttetspootred
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# Posted: 5 May 2010 19:30
Reply
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