The Coffee Crisis

Coffee has not only impacted the world socially, but it provides financial means for many countries who export their coffee beans.

I watched the video “The Coffee Go-Round” which talks about how the cost of coffee seems to be dropping and as a result this has a negative impact on coffee producing countries. One of the strategies mentioned in the video is to grow different crops, this strategy isn’t so great since many of these farmers don’t have enough money to grow different crops. Another strategy mentioned is to move out of the land and go into the city, this is a good and bad option. It’s a good option since in cities there are more jobs being offered. However, it’s not such a great option because many of these farmers have lived their whole lives on their land, and moving to the city is a drastic change especially if they have a family. Lastly, another option is fair

The documentary Black Gold, is about the world coffee market and an Ethiopian fair trade cooperative. Ethiopia being the birthplace of coffee is the largest producer of coffee in the world, producing some of the highest quality of coffee beans in the world, like Harar, Yuban and Sidamo types of coffee. The significant problems pointed out in this documentary show what is wrong in the global trading system. Mainly, while most of us continue have our lattes and specialty coffees, the amount paid to the Ethiopian coffee farmers is so low that a lot of them have been forced to chop down some of their coffee fields and rely on other crops to help them survive. The Ethiopian people are malnourished; they have no clean water, no healthcare, and no schools for their families. As quoted in the film, “They are living hand to mouth”.

The strategies that are proposed in this clip for changing this situation are for coffee growers to adapt to the fair-trade market. Under the fair-trade market coffee growers will have the chance to a decent market price that will help increase their production.

The 9th largest coffee producer in Latin America is Peru. It is mainly produced in the valleys of Chanchamayo and Urabamba. The coffee is described as being “mild, flavorful, and aromatic”. Most farms are small in the country, being only 5 acres. The crops are grown all over the country, but

​Over time, the tradition of taking the highly lucrative cash crop of coffee has become universal to the extent that its production is marred with interference from political, social, economic, and scientific concepts that affect its production. In Central America, the major countries that produce coffee include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua. In these countries, coffee is among the largest traded commodities. Normally, this production takes place through small-scale farmers who are largely dependent on larger corporations to bridge the gap between them and the consumers. Coffee production in Central America is affected by social, economic, globalization and political factors that

There are a number of significant competitive barriers within the coffee bean and coffee grind industry. While virtually any firm can purchase the raw materials or even the finished product in the form of ground coffee, the packaging and distribution of the product is a much more sophisticated endeavor. The most significant

Farmers are looking into this crop because it is being grown in avocado groves. Many people are considering growing coffee in avocado groves. It has become a major dispute between many farmers. In the article, Stephanie talks about how many people will pay money for these coffee beans (Storm, Stephanie. “Your Coffee is from Where? California?” New York Times, May 26, 2017). However, climate is also playing a role in the making of coffee beans. The climate affects the growth of coffee. The climate is damaging the crop. If it is very hot outside, the crop does not grow. Coffee growth has decreased due to the heat. In the article, coffee drinkers are more likely to spend money on their coffee rather than to drink it black. The avocado trees are increasing the growth of coffee because it is providing the crop cover. It is protecting the crop from heat which can damage the growth. These avocado trees are very important because without these trees, coffee would not be

Coffee is undisputedly the world’s second most traded commodity after oil, more than fifty nations in the global south produce and export coffee as a primary commodity but tragically farmers have not gained as much as they should have, facing considerable and growing difficulties because of considerable decline in the price of coffee arguably as a result of oversupply of coffee. Coffee production in the developing world varies from diseases, ignorance, weather conditions and other related factors, smallholder’s farmers produce 80% of the world’s coffee but many cannot earn a decent standard of living for themselves and their families at large.

Finally, global economic issues have an immense influence on the world of coffee. Throughout history there has been a pattern that coffee producing countries are economically worse off than those that are consuming the coffee. Pendergrast mentions that “in 1950 the average income in consuming countries was three times that of coffee-growing nations. By the late 1960s it was five times great” (270). With that said, many producing coffee countries were facing endemics and malnourished peoples because workers were receiving absurdly low wages thus placing them into poverty and human suffering (271). Specifically, although 90 percent of El Salvador’s exports consisted of coffee in the 1930s, they agonized from “‘low wages, incredible filth…[under] conditions in fact not far removed from slavery’” (168). Global economic issues of these producing countries lead to dictators easily gaining power such as those in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras (170). Not only was politics a matter that resulted from global economic issues, “the high interest rates from financial institutions and price [squeezes]” lead to the economic struggle of farmers like those from Colombia due to

There will be no clear solution that can solve the problem completely, as it will not happen. Such measures take a considerable amount of time to implement and its effects may take a long time to trickle to the poor marginalized farmers in Nicaragua and other Latin American countries. The fair trade market attempt to solve the problem of price, such as many other systems attempt to solve the larger problem, but instead it has led to more implications. With a mantra to support and represent coffee farmers, guaranteeing fair prices. The need to certify coffee by the FLO has raised burdens on these coffee growers which in turn has decreased the market and demand for certified coffee. Farmers are now selling less of their coffee beans to the Fair Trade price (Linton). Many cooperates and the FLO have argued and proposed increasing the selling price for certified coffee beans, but these efforts fall short, since increasing the prices would discourage consumers from buying fair trade coffee, as well as prevent any future business from expanding and contributing to the fair trade. This has not created any discouragement, instead, Fair Trade certified coffee continuous to be imported, with each year surpassing the previous (Haight, 2011). Even then the demand for Fair Trade coffee has decreased and instead, pushed it out of a

In an article “The Coffee Crisis: Is Fair Trade the Solution?” written by Fuzhi Cheng, it describes that coffee funded a large amount of finances in poorer regions, such as schools, hospitals, and infrastructures. Coffee overall heightened the income and educational levels of these developing areas (2007). “But all these benefits have evaporated since the late 1990s, when the world coffee price slumped to unprecedented low levels. The collapse of coffee prices has led to a humanitarian crisis with devastating effects on coffee growers, communities, and countries” (Cheng 2007). But why the “slump” in

Statistics show that over half of the American population consumes coffee on a daily basis. You may drink coffee hot, cold, mixed, or even in a frappuccino. Individuals are able to make coffee at home, or buy it on the go. Coffee provides people with caffeine, which ultimately gives energy for hardworking people all around the world. The main focus for this paper will cover the following topics, with coffee as the basis: causes for shifts in supply and demand, how coffee supply and demand influence price, quantity,

The price of commercial coffee is controlled by the New York and London exchange markets where they decide the prices of coffee(Francis, 2006). Most of the buyers and seller that deal in the trading of coffee usually look at the New York market to make their decisions on the prices. Also the World Trade Organization is involved in controlling trade of commercial coffee, but these decisions and the way stuff is traded is controlled by developed nation and small undeveloped countries in Africa have to say or voice in

The film highlights the fact that coffee is the most valued word commodity, second to oil. The beginning of the film shows the process in which coffee is made- from bean harvesting by workers in Ethiopia who make next to nothing, through several intermediated stages, and into the market. Although we spend countless amounts of money on coffee without thinking twice, the price that coffee farmers who produce this commodity are getting paid, is disgustingly low. Some of them have even been forced to walk away from their fields. There is no better place to see this