Starbucks. Seattle’s Best. Dutch Brothers. These three are only a few of the many major coffee marketers in the United States. We have turned into a nation obsessed with coffee. As each day dawns, the rising sun meets the rising aroma of brewing coffee. And it does not stop there either: though Americans do drink 65% of their coffee during the morning breakfast time, 30% is consumed away from the mealtable (Huffington Post). But how many of the 100 million Americans who help to drink the 146 million cups of coffee consumed by the United States each year (Huffington Post) actually understand where their coffee comes from? Awareness has risen in recent decades, leading to concern for the living conditions of coffee farmers and those living in third-world countries in general. In turn this has led to the creation of the Fair Trade vision, supposedly an system to ensure that coffee farmers earn a living wage and that they have access to the opportunity for a better life. This eases the conscience of the average American, who thinks, “Good. Now I don’t have to feel bad about those coffee farmers anymore. I can have my morning coffee and know that I’m doing my part to help those who have less than we do.” But does Fair Trade accomplish its goal? Does it really provide maximum benefit to the farmer? Fair Trade coffee is not as simple a concept as it may seem: some aspects benefit farmers while others hinder them. Rules for Fair Trade Coffee as they stand today require some revision in order for Fair Trade agreements to truly live up to their full potential to help famers. Coffee farmers work in conditions that definitely qualify as somewhat less-than-pleasant. Farmers on large coffee farms earn miserable wages in exchange for backb... ... middle of paper ... ... hours children can work just to start the ball rolling. Fair Trade coffee truly presents a difficult dilemma: through attempts to help farmers it sometimes backfires in certain areas and ends up hindering instead. Rules for the guaranteed market, guaranteed price floor, and opposition of child labor all originate from good-hearted desires to improve the lives of coffee farmers. Unfortunately, the situation many coffee farmers face cannot be so easily solved. The process of moving Fair Trade to the next level of functionality may not come quickly: it may take years, even decades. But that does not matter; rather, it matters much more that we ensure that the issues are addressed and thought over rather than simply swept under the carpet with the National Debt. With care and creativity Fair Trade can grow if we simply put forth the effort required to help it do so.
The larger serving size of Great Cups of Coffee is perhaps the most apparent gage that will improve appeal for the company’s customers. Receiving extra of a proportionately quality product for a comparable price obviously works as an enticement for customers to prefer Great Cups more than the opposition. While customers identify with a better quality and superior taste with fresher coffee, Great Cups supports its effective model of serving coffee that has been roasted no more 72 hours ago and that is blended and ground right at the store. Great Cups also provides as an unintended marketing method community bulletin boards and assists with book club gatherings as well as
Fair trade should give protection to governments from exploitation. For example, small farmers can be protected by giving government food sovereignty. An article from the Chicago Democratic Socialist Organization proposed, “The agreement must return to governments the ability to safeguard food sovereignty by protecting family and small-scale subsistence farmers” (Chicago Democratic Socialist). Rewriting the agreement can protect the small farms and retain jobs for farm workers. The article further addressed an issue discussed previously, “Large-scale importation of basic grains into Mexico is a major cause of the economic collapse of rural communities, which forces millions of undocumented migrants to seek work in the USA” (Chicago Democratic Socialist). Therefore, it would solve problems both in the US and Mexico. It will take efforts of the many to renegotiate NAFTA, and many other terms needs to be added. The general direction should focus on protecting the interest of the general public by restricting corporate powers. Fair trade will reduce the problems caused by
Coffee is a growing part of people’s daily lives. Just before the 9-5 weekdays, and even during the 9-5, it is common for the working class to drink a cup of coffee. To support this accustomed part of our culture, it involves a complex supply chain that allows those coffee beans to turn into a cup that can be consumed. This paper is structured on how Starbucks, the top coffee supplier in the world, can supply its stores, from raw materials to manufacturing, right to the start of someone’s day.
small farmers grow it as a cash crop, a crop that they can sell to try
In the coffee farmers’ case, when some companies perform fair trade, the prices for one pound of coffee bean have increased. According to the article: Economics of Coffee, the price for one pound of coffee bean has increased to US$1.01 since 2008. The increase in the pricing not only made the farmers earn more but also improved the reputation of the companies who have joined the fair trade project because the consumers become more aware of how the corporations concern about their employees and
Starbucks Coffee is a chain that sells Fairtrade Certified coffee. Starbucks began purchasing in 2000 and now became one of the world’s prime purchasers of Fairtrade Certified coffee (“Coffee.”). Fairtrade International Charter’s has five core principles that companies are to achieve for certification and the next paragraphs will showcase how Starbucks achieves them.
It is evident in numerous countries where fair trade does not exist. Banana farming is not simple, the banana plant is in fact a very vulnerable and sensitive plant easily affected by “infection, poor drainage and wind damage.” Bananas are, of course, only able to grow in tropical countries that are exposed to high volumes of “pests, tropical storms and strong winds.” Fair trade has entered countries like Colombia offering a sustainable way of producing bananas, cutting costs of production, and helping farmers win the pricing wars in supermarkets. Farmers are often forced to lower the cost of their bananas so that they may enter the supermarkets, however, in forcing their prices to go down they are often making far less money than to cover the cost of production. By infringing on the prices and forcing farmers into a delicate position where they are hardly able to pay for their cost of production, either these farmers are forced into closing down their farms or cutting corners. Cutting corners involves, rather than round the clock backbreaking work going into protecting the banana plants, a high usage of pesticides starts being incorporated, rather than effectively protecting the environment getting rid of waste responsibly or finding a water source that will not negatively impact villagers of the town. Additionally, fair trade allows for these
Coffee is a worldwide cash crop of which demand has exponentially increased over the years. “Coffee is (after oil) the world’s second most important traded commodity” (Cleaver 61). Competing coffee brewing companies wage war on offering the freshest, best tasting coffee the market has to offer. With such stiff competition there must be enough coffee beans deemed to be good enough in quality to supply the increasing demand. Starbucks can be considered one of today’s top competitors if not thee top coffee manufacturer presently in business. This successful company has had a huge impact on the coffee industry as well as the world. They have gone through great length to provide consumers with an excellent product as well as create a legacy that shows how to best go about running a massive corporation while keeping the environment clean and healthy.
In the United States, coffee is the second largest import (Roosevelt, 2004). Furthermore, the United States, consumes one-fifth of all the worlds¡¦ coffee (Global Exchange, 2004). The present industry is expanding. It is estimated that North America¡¦s sector will reach saturation levels within 5 year (Datamonitor. n.d.). According to National Coffee Association (NCA), 8 out of 10 Americans consume coffee. In addition, it is estimated that half of the American population drinks coffee daily. The international market remains highly competitive. It is estimated that 3,300 cups of coffee are consumed every second of the day worldwide (Ecomall, n.d.). The latest trends included dual drinkers, an increase in senior citizens...
The movement particularly emphasizes on exports from developing countries to developed countries, with products such as handicrafts, coffee, cocoa, sugar, tea, bananas, honey, cotton, wine, fresh fruit, chocolate, flowers and gold. Moreover, coffee is one of the most widely traded goods in the world. For many developing countries, coffee trade is an important source of income. Producers can provide a better trading and improve terms of trade. Moreover, this allows producers to improve workers’ living environment and future life in general (De Pelsmacker, Driessen and Rayp, 2005).
The competition from those coffee shops is a serious threat for Donkey, and a large proportion of market share is taken away. Starbucks is a strong competitor, and it illustrates the threat for Donkey. First of all, both Starbucks and Donkey have a good reputation for high-quality coffee. However, when people consider about the awareness, Starbucks’ coffee will get more recognition. According to the report “Strategic Analysis Of Starbucks Corporation,” Geereddy (2013) reported that Starbucks has global brand recognition for selling highest quality coffee. Starbucks is well-known for high-quality coffee, and this advantage is hard to be replaced by other coffee shops. Second, the cost of products in Starbucks and Donkey is quite different even though both of them offer fair-trade coffee. Donkey purchases fair-trade beans primarily from the Dean’s Bean, and switching between several suppliers will drive price of coffee beans up. Geereddy (2013) analyses Starbucks’ supply chain as “…coffee beans…grown in select regions which are standard inputs, which makes the cost of switching between substitute suppliers, moderately low.” Starbucks as a global coffeehouse can control cost of coffee beans to be more stable and lower than Donkey, because they have their own supply chain and regular suppliers. Starbucks has more advantages in cost-saving, so Donkey is facing stiff
For small coffee farmers, policy makers, governments, organizations and consumers must become educated about the impacts of coffee production in order to invoke sustaining positive change. Fair trade labelling has many inconsistencies, but the label has made consumers realize that there is purchasing power when they buy a pound of coffee. Consumers and policy makers must move from thinking in purely global and economical terms. Instead, consumers and policy makers need to come closer to thinking of the Brazilian farmers uprooting their crop or the Vietnamese Hill Tribesman forced to give up their traditional practices. Issues in coffee 37 producing regions and fair trade labels should be public knowledge so that the companies and policies are held responsible to change the structures causing poverty for coffee
Besides the high demand and cost for gasoline these days, coffee is considered the second most traded commodity on worldwide markets next to oil. "Coffee is grown in more than 50 countries in a band around the equator and provides a living for more than 20 million farmers. Altogether, up to 100 million people worldwide are involved in the growing, processing, trading and retailing of the product" (Spilling the Beans , ). In 2001, coffee farmers and plantations produced over 15 billion pounds of coffee while the world market only bought 13 billion pounds. The overproduction in the coffee industry is not a usual thing and is one of the major reasons why prices vary throughout the industry.
Globalisation has been one of the most significant developments of the last half century, and issues such as trade and international commerce have become increasingly important. In consequence, problems such as poverty, unfair wages and poor working conditions in third world countries have been drawn to the attention of consumers (Hayes and Moore, 2007). This is a growing global issue which cannot be ignored by anyone concerned about the problems in developing countries. Free trade and Fair Trade have both been offered as solutions to these issues.
Two common products that are Fair Trade Certified are Cocoa and Coffee, each of which contains problems that producers face but gain benefits from Fair Trade. Fairtrade International states that cocoa is grown in tropical regions of more than 30 developing countries, such as West Africa and Latin America, providing an estimate of 14 million people with livelihood. Fair Trade Standards for cocoa includes no forced labor of any kind - including child labor and environmental standards restricts the use of chemicals and encourage sustainability. A problem cocoa producers face is the lack of access to markets and financing. Since cocoa is a seasonal crop, producers need loans to meet the needs for planting and cultivating their crop. With this in mind,...