ETHICAL COFFEE Part 2 – The Development of Ethical Coffee

17 Aug 2017

A Brief History – Beginnings of Ethical Coffee

International coffee organization, ethical coffee series, crema coffee garage

Before ‘Fair Trade’ coffee existed, the International Coffee Organisation regulated prices according to the International Coffee Act agreed upon in 1962. This agreement restricted the amount of coffee traded between countries to ensure that there was no occurrence of oversupply. However, the organisation was not always able to successfully address industry issues to prevent market crises.

Between the years 1962-1992, various adjustments and renewals of the Act followed. An important adjustment made in 1976 saw the organisation remove trade quotas in response to a severe frost that damaged crops in Brazil, as an attempt to keep the market stable. Unfortunately, in 1983 when the agreement was redrawn to include benefits like a coffee trade database and stricter import/export regulations, they neglected to reinstate the quotas they had removed to avert the 1976 crisis, and in 1988 this led to a crash in coffee prices and a flooded market.

Fair Trade Logo, Ethical Coffee Series, Crema Coffee Garage

In response to this crash, Fair Trade Certification was introduced. It proposed to artificially raise the price of coffee, as well as reintroduce quotas, in an effort to ensure that growers could continue to do business. This organisation was formed in the Netherlands and was originally called ‘Max Havlaar’. [1] At this point, this effort was more interested in ensuring and stabilizing supply than addressing any ethical concerns – but it was the beginning of a long journey.

It was a year smooth sailing until 1989, when the organisation negotiated a new agreement in time for the next trading year and failed to extend the 1983 agreement instead. This included a lack of quotas, because the quotas had not yet been decided on. Unfortunately, a new agreement could not be drawn up until 1992, and in that time another market price crash occurred.

In 1997, a collection of four organisations focused on fair trade coffee joined efforts and formed Fairtrade International (previously known as Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International), which continues to set the standards of Fairtrade today.

Fair Trade Certified, Ethical Coffee Series, Crema Coffee Garage

However, it wasn’t until 2001 and 2007 that agreements were drawn up that addressed ethical issues. These issues included the living standards of workers and growers, lack of economic counselling, deficiency of adequate research in the industry (as far as ideal geographic location and niche markets were concerned), and the absence of organized environmentally sustainable practices – all while encouraging the world to indulge more frequently in a cup of coffee to boost consumption. [2] This agreement shared many of the values of Fairtrade, and this was where we began to see ethical sentiment affecting government regulations to become law.