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There are multiple organisations working to make things better for coffee farmers, and some of those can be recognised/quantified with various labels, slogans, and certifications on the coffee packaging. But it can be hard to figure out what to trust and what to look for; below is a summary of our top recommendations.
It would be easy to assume that more expensive coffees would pass some of that premium on over to the farmers, but that’s not always the case. You want to make sure it’s the farmers who are paid well, not the retailer or roaster so look for evidence and not ’empty slogans’
Organic coffee is less harmful to the environment, crucial factor for telling apart high-quality coffee. However, when purchasing ‘organic’ make sure you look for the EU Organic seal, which means that the products are verified by government-accredited inspectors and require that the farm in question use no synthetic pesticides, have a plan to prevent excess erosion (a real problem with coffee plants), and are spaced far enough from non-organic plants so pesticides won’t “accidentally” float over.
Fairtrade was started in response to the dire struggles of Mexican coffee farmers following the collapse of world coffee prices in the late 1980s. With Fairtrade, certified coffee producer organisations are guaranteed to receive at least the Fairtrade Minimum Price for their coffee, which aims to cover their costs of production and act as a safety net when market prices fall below a sustainable level. However, beware that only the complete phrase, “Fair Trade Certified,” carries weight; “fair trade,” alone, without a label from an organisation like Fairtrade International means nothing.
This accreditation scheme covers both environmental issues and workers’ rights. Its code of conduct is based on International Labour Organisation conventions and they work with the standards of the global sustainability standard association, the ISEAL Alliance.
Also members of ISEAL, for growers to be certified they must adhere to a list of sustainable principles, including conserving local wildlife and water resources, minimising soil erosion and treating workers fairly.
The “value added” model addresses some of the issues other certifications miss. Finished products command much higher prices than raw agricultural produce, and being able to get that added value may be one of the most critical factors in enabling producers to escape from poverty. Proudly Made in Africa is a new label focused on this issue, which certifies products as produced entirely in the countries where the original crops were grown.
This is different from a traditional accreditation scheme and more of a concept. Union Roasted, which uses this approach, describes its model as “dynamic engagement … compared to a static a tick-box approach employed by the certification schemes.” They pay a premium 25% greater than the Fairtrade minimum price, plus an equivalent Fairtrade social premium and additional quality premiums for the coffee as they tend to sell better quality coffee that requires increased inputs.
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