SEED Sessions

“Fair Trade and Direct Trade”. I am sure you’ve heard these two terms quite a few times, whether you’re into coffee or not.

Seeing that you took the proactive step to click on this link entitled, “Fair Trade & Direct Trade, Do You Know The Difference?” I take it that you’re interested to learn more.

It seems to me that among many coffee conversations, there are two concepts that get tossed around as an interchangeable term. The difference between the terms “direct trade” and “fair trade” are often misunderstood and seem to be an intimidating topic to unfold and discuss.

This is most certainly a discussion for the people, by the people. After all, we coffee lovers and shop owners are the ones buying these products and (for the most part) drinking it too, right? So I think it's fair to say that everyone should know if they are purchasing coffee that is traded in a fair way, and if the process was direct and transparent.

So on that note, I have invited one of the most bad-ass coffee writers I know to give us the skinny on the topic.

I met Rachel Northrop, author of When Coffee Speaks, coffee trader with Ally Coffee and contributor to Fresh Cup Magazine while visiting the Don Eli Coffee finca in Costa Rica.

We asked her to define each term in her own words, in order to understand the bigger picture:

Direct Trade coffee seeks to bring transparency to the transaction of buying and selling coffee by creating channels through which original producers and final consumers (or the roasters selling to final consumers) can interface directly to negotiate price, quality, and other contractual terms.

Fair Trade means guaranteeing that coffee producers are paid fairly for their work.

DIRECT TRADE

You want the good stuff. You want a high quality coffee product. You want to know where it came from and how it got there. You want to know how many hands have touched it before getting to you.

Ms. Northrop explains this clearly in a simple comparison:
“The best way to conceptualize this is as a Farmers Market. The original seller of the product and the final buyer of the product meet in an open market and the buyer purchases the goods directly from the producer, so there is complete transparency as to how much the buyer paid the seller because they literally spoke face to face and money changed actual hands. This is in contrast to a grocery store, which serves as an intermediary between original producers and final buyers.”

She goes on to explain that while this is viable on a small scale, it is more difficult on an international scale - but that this way of trading coffee is completely possible.

Instead of meeting at a Farmers Market a few miles down the road, those doing business are physically thousands of miles apart. She notes that this requires coffee to travel across seas in shipping containers and be processed using industrial equipment that is not accessible to all producers.

FAIR TRADE

Harvesting and processing coffee takes a lot of work - I mean a lot. It is one of the most laborious crops, especially when you consider that machinery has yet to replace the process of hand-picking the coffee cherry. It is important that you know that the people harvesting and processing the beans are all paid a fair wage.

Northop explains that previously, coffee was considered a commodity: much like sugar, wheat, cotton, etc. The commodity pricing is created to make the handling of large volume products uniform and more efficient. However, this does not mean that the farmers’ financial stability is carefully considered.

Thankfully, Fair Trade has evolved as a movement and can be seen in two primary international non profits, Fair Trade USA and Fairtrade International. Northop explains that they, “draft comprehensive codes of conduct against which other agencies audit in order to award companies from the farm to the roaster with a literal seal of compliance: the logo you see on packaging and marketing materials.”

Here’s the logo to look for when purchasing coffee and what it means:

“This logo intends that the original producer of the coffee was compensated at a fair price, one which accounts for real time costs of production rather than the arbitrary number generated by the futures market. There are many criticisms of Fair Trade systems’ transparency and factors that complicate the situation, including the involvement of cooperatives and local governments,” explains Northrop.

WHAT DO FARMERS THINK?

I asked Nela, born and raised in a coffee producing family in Costa Rica, what labeling people should care about when purchasing coffee and what Fairtrade means to her. This was her response:

“I would say for me right now none of these certifications are a true reality.

The certifications are good and important, but most producers can’t get these certifications because of pricing and other challenges and most of them are just a convenience for certain organizations. We, producers, haven’t gotten any real benefit from Fair Trade certifications or Organic certifications.  

If consumers want to make sure they are paying fair prices for their coffee, and they are supporting organic practices, they can now communicate with us directly.

In this day in age, with social media and other forms of direct communication, we are able to educate consumers directly about all of the work that goes into processing our coffee crops. The communicators in specialty coffee are the green buyers, the baristas in the coffee shops, the coffee roasters. They are beginning to travel directly to the source to get a better understanding of where their coffee comes from.”

TO SUM IT UP

Coffee is a complicated little bean.

But the basic coffee supply chain goes from producer, to broker (importers & exporters), to buyer.  

Unless you’re Martin Diedrich, who drove his van to Central America and loaded it up with bags full of green coffee beans and drive the van back up to Costa Mesa, CA to roast them himself, there is going to be a step solely dedicated to the logistics of product travel that won’t be taken on by a roaster or buyer because it is so complicated. And that’s okay.  

It is important to be aware of this trade. We need to ensure that whoever is negotiating directly with the farmer is proposing fair rates. We consumers need to be aware that if the coffee we are considering is inexpensive and available in large quantities, that there was most likely very little quality control involved and that the taste will definitely reflect that lack of attention.

We can stay fair and transparent by asking the right questions, asking a lot of questions, and supporting the specialty coffee movement down to its last, delicious drop.

Mugs Up,

The Coffee Nomad

Meet Abe Ramirez, a 23-year-old photographer from Southern California who embarked on a two-week vacation that turned into a two-year, 10,000-mile trip across South America on his bicycle.  Curious about his journey we chatted a bit with Abe about his work and experiences.  Read the Q&A below and mark your calendars as we’re excited to welcome Abe and his latest travel photography exhibition, RUGGED, to SEED Peoples Market on Thursday, November 16^th from 6-8PM.

Tell us a little bit about you.  My name is Abe, I’m 23 years old from Southern California. 

Where is home?  Corona, California is my hometown but I think I can make any place my home as long as there is good company, waves, mountains, and plenty of outdoor activities. I think it would be hard for me to live in a city far away from all of that. 

How did you develop an interest in photography?  I decided I wanted to become a photographer before ever touching a camera. I had never owned one before but I knew I wanted to be outside, explore new places, and meet new people. Photography was just a way to do that. 

What equipment do you prefer to use?  Right now, I am working with a Canon 6d mk I, a 50mm 1.8, and a 70-200 2.8 IS I. I obviously don’t have the best gear but I think most of what I produce as a photographer is content based. When I was in South America living on my bicycle I didn’t have the ability to carry a bunch of high tech equipment. I only had room for 2 lenses and a camera body. I have learned to appreciate minimalism in every aspect of my life. 

How would you describe your style?  I would describe my style as rugged. I say this because I have broken a handful of lenses and camera bodies being outside exposed to the elements. My favorite photographs are often times the ones I have had to climb up a several thousand-foot mountain, camp in the snow, wake up at midnight and take astrophotography in below freezing temperatures. These are my favorite types of shots because of what it takes to get that photograph. The time and place I am there is secondary for me. The purpose of my photographs are to make the viewer feel like they are present in that moment. If I can make somebody escape from their office job for a second I feel like I have accomplished my goal with that photograph. 

When out shooting – how much of it was instinctual vs planned?  I would say seventy percent of my shots were instinctual. Sometimes I would have an idea of what I wanted to shoot before visiting a place but my favorite shots are typically the ones that are never planned. I think there is a skill in discerning the right moment to take your camera out and quickly set all the manual settings to take that special shot. 

Tell us about your travels, how did you pick the spots you traveled to?  Well, it’s a funny story actually. I started my travels on a two-week vacation that accidentally turned into a two-year trip. I met some inspirational people in-between those two weeks and I decided to leave my job and school back in CA. I was going to do something radically different, challenge cultural norms, and put myself in uncomfortable situations. I bought a bicycle and rode south to the southernmost region of Argentina. I traveled through three countries along the pacific coast of Central America and rode through six countries along the Andes mountains in South America for a total of 10,000 miles. I met people from all walks of life and learned new styles of living. I wanted to prove to myself that the idea of following my dreams and passions was a possibility. I did just that. 

What if any were the difficulties you encountered on your travels?  I’ve experienced a lot. I was robbed in Ecuador in gun point but I was also treated as family and a guest of honor in most places I visited. The people down there are so nice! They are literally willing to give you the clothes on their backs. I summited a 17,000 ft. Volcano in Colombia and a 20,000-ft. mountain in Bolivia. I sailed through a storm from Panama to Colombia. What I like to tell people is that for every bad thing that happens there are twenty good things that follow. 

What do you want your viewers to take away from your work?  I want my viewers to be inspired to follow their dreams and passions. Whether its traveling or working in a town you lived your whole life with a career you love. What I’m passionate about shows through my work and lifestyle. I want people to intimate that for themselves. 

For more information please visit Abe Ramirez's website.