So, this past week we explored the world of coffee in what is called a learning expeditition. These expeditions take place with our students every fall and spring semester. We as a staff participated in a "slice" which is just a piece of what would actually be going on in a real classroom. This slice was about the world of coffee and exploring the history, economics, lives of farmers, etc. On Thursday we actually went to a coffee farm here in the DR locally and learned more about coffee than I ever thought possible. The big thing I took from this expedition is the question...Is credit given where credit is due? Basically what happens to the money aspect between where the coffee is grown and harvested and to the retailer and sold for 4X the amount?
The big concept for this was to determine if coffee was FairTrade (a co-op) or fairly traded? The difference between them is the direct relationship beween farmer and retailer. This is when coffee is fairly traded. When there is a middle man like a farmer's co-op they take more of the money and credit than the actual farmers themselves. An example of a statistic is that when you buy a bag of coffee at a local or chain coffee shop for $13, the farmer will roughly get about 40-80 cents of that profit. Can you imagine that!!! Coffee farmers here in the DR are continually living in poverty and they struggle to make ends meet and put food on the table during the harvest months!! To me, that broke my heart.
So, you ask what can be done to remedy this? Well, the directors of Doulos (where I teach) have decided to do their part and help the local coffee farmers. It takes people with connections within the states to first start the relationship with a retailer and ask them to partner with a coffee farm elsewhere. Chad (Krista's husband) started a coffee farm here called Spirit Mountain and they supply directly to Dominican Joe's Coffee Shop in Austin, TX. As Krista tells the story, she said that one day she was on the coast up north DR and she met a work team from UT Austin that was on Spring Break. After talking with them, she met up with their director who had just gotten off the phone with her business that a coffee supplier had fallen through. As she is telling Krista all of this, Krista said that it was clearly the Lord bringing them together as she had a coffee farm, but no retailer and this coffee shop owner had no supplier. Thus a working relationshi started and half of the proceeds go to help fund either Doulos or another Christian school on the border of Haiti and DR. Now they have been in business for almost 2 years and they are helping out the farmers here by cutting out unnecessary costs like a middle man. All in all, it was very interesting and I now am aware of the process that goes into my one cup of coffee and let me tell you its a lengthy process!!! So, ask your coffee shop where their coffee comes from and hopefully we can together help out our local farmers!!