Groups says Fair Trade essential on campus

By: Daniel Divine

Posted: 2/4/08

Fair Trade Coffee was the topic Thursday night at an educational seminar and dialogue presented by the Association of Social Entrepreneurs. Guest speakers from the student body, former students and local business owners shared their perspectives and insights on the Fair Trade movement.

"We are dealing with issues of the global scale and we need to ask what can we do to help out," said Andrew Pittz, president of ASE and a senior sociology major.

Blaze Currie, a senior agricultural leadership and development major, spoke of his work in the Norman E. Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture and the institute's projects in Rwanda's coffee sector. The Borlaug Institute provides researchers, policymakers and faculty from developing countries with the ability to strengthen sustainable agricultural practices through scientific training and research opportunities.

Currie said the institute and Texas A&M have been in Rwanda for three years building a coffee industry.

"Specialty coffee is like the wine market," Currie said. "This cash crop is a huge industry in Rwanda."

He said it becomes precarious for communities when they grow coffee instead of food, and explained the difficult up-keep of the organic coffee market once institutes or universities leave Third World countries. He provided the guiding question from his situation: "Can Rwanda afford the resources?"

He ended with a disclaimer "organic is great but we cannot dive on the bandwagon."

James Cypert, a Peace Corp volunteer, arrived in College Station several days ago from war-torn Kenya with only a few articles of clothing.

Cypert's project in Kenya consisted of implementing income-generating activities relating to small coffee cooperatives. Cypert, a graduate of the University, delved into the importance of Fair Trade products.

"You are selling social responsibility through a cup," he said of Fair Trade coffee.

He challenged consumers to ask themselves questions when purchasing a slightly more expensive cup of socially responsible coffee: "Are those five cents in my best interests? Is there a greater good at stake? Can I do something by buying a cup of coffee?"

"We are trying to sell this idea that you can help the world," Cypert said.

Cypert explained that with Fair Trade coffee, farmers are insured living wages, fair prices, sustainable agricultural practices in the community and that no child labor is being used. Without Fair Trade, the markets are susceptible to price fallouts, farmers only spending time on the cash crops instead of diversifying to feed everyone, and the possibility of the use of child labor.

Meredith King, co-owner of Coffee Station, spoke about being a seller of Fair Trade Coffee.

"[I am] fulfilling a life long dream of owning a coffee shop," King said.

She said that she and her husband "jumped in with convictions" to provide as much of their coffee as Fair Trade, organic and shade grown. Shade grown coffee is the most natural habitat for coffee to be grown, and the taste is reflected, King said.

"The cost really wasn't that much more," she said.

King found that many other people cared about socially responsible consumption and said she had a responsibility to the customer to serve the best coffee she could.

Annie Behrman, a senior anthropology major, spoke about the work she has done to spread Fair Trade coffee around campus. Along with her organization Global Justice, Behrman has gone to Dining Services, Student Senate and A&M's administration to push for Fair Trade coffee into as many places as possible.

Locations serving Fair Trade coffee on campus include Poor Yorick's, The Daily Grind, Bernie's, and The 41st Club. She encouraged the audience to find Fair Trade coffee and to buy it, and to spread the word.

"We need student support to get Fair Trade everywhere on campus," Behrman said.

When asked what specific action a responsibly consuming student could take, Behrman said that anyone can contact Dining Services through their website and tell them that they really want to see all-Fair Trade coffee on campus.

After the panel had spoken, the audience was able to break up into parts of the room to discuss issues more personally with the speakers about their respective issues. Several students who were interested in the Peace Corps talked with Cypert about his personal experiences and gained some advice on the application process.

Audience member Crystal Stewart said it was educational and the panelists' "experiences were all very real."

A&M graduate Claire Buck said that the information was interesting, especially the benefits that arise from a Fair Trade Industry. Buck has worked in the health food industry for some time but said the teach-in provided a closer look into the issues.

ASP has several teach-ins planned for the semester, including a session focused on community-supported agriculture, permaculture, agro-ecology, localized food sources and the current topsoil crisis, Pittz said. He explained the unique nature of ASE as the first and only student organization on campus that has a non-profit status.