Hi, my name is Cindy, and I work in the Global Responsibility department at Starbucks. The fair trade question is a good one, and one I field quite often on MSI. The situation is complex, and I wanted to take a stab at answering the question here so I could give you more detail.
First, some background… The Fair Trade system currently allows only smallholder farmers who belong to democratically run coffee cooperatives listed on the Fair Trade registry to participate—a system that currently produces about 4% of the world’s coffee. Today, Starbucks is the largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee in North America, purchasing 20 million pounds last year, which represents approximately 32% of U.S. Fair Trade Certified™ coffee imports.
So why don’t we buy more?
While we believe that the Fair Trade system is a wonderful way to give small farmers access to international markets and fair prices, there are many, many small farmers who also deserve that access, but who don’t fit the Fair Trade criteria. For instance, La Candelilla in Costa Rica is a 95-acre coffee farm owned by the Sanchez family—nine brothers and sisters, and the fifth generation to run the farm. In 2004, Starbucks bought all of the farm’s first-quality production and recognized it with a Black Apron ExclusivesTM Award. Three Sánchez children are now attending college, the family’s first ever.
The Sánchez family is the perfect example of a Starbucks supplier who is ineligible for Fair Trade certification due to the size of their farm and their choice not to belong to a cooperative. As a socially responsible company, we had to ask ourselves, if it would be fair to stop buying coffee from the Sanchez family just because they can’t participate in Fair Trade. We don’t think so. And if we converted to 100% Fair Trade Certified™ coffee, we would have to break long-standing relationships with many farmers like the Sanchez family currently in our supply chain.
Starbucks follows C.A.F.E. Practices. In partnership with Conservation International (www.conservation.org/starbucks), Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices was designed to help ensure that high-quality coffee is grown and processed in a socially and environmentally responsible way. C.A.F.E. Practices is open to all coffee farmers regardless of farm size and is verified by an independent, third-party, Scientific Certification Systems (scscertified.com/Starbucks).
While many coffee companies send their coffee buyers to visit coffee growing communities around the world, Starbucks has decided to open Farmer Support Centers (FSC) in these communities. Our agronomists and sustainability experts live and work along side the coffee producers. We have one FSC in Costa Rica and will be opening two more next year - one in Ethiopia and the other in Rwanda. The FSCs offer on-the-ground support including C.A.F.E. Practices and coffee quality training, and environmentally responsible growing and processing techniques.
Regardless of labeling and certification, Starbucks is committed to coffee that’s responsibly grown…ethically traded…and proudly served. So while we don’t always purchase Fair Trade Certified™, our goal is to always buy coffee in an ethical and sustainable manner.