Farmers tell of Fair Trade benefits

ACTON -- Edmundo Lopez breaths in the aroma of a small glass of coffee and takes a deep sip. He smiles as he raises his head, declaring, not surprisingly, that of the four samples arrayed in front of him, he likes his own Nicaraguan coffee best. "It's the merlot of coffees," says coffee meister George Howell, who is sponsoring this cupping -- similar to a wine tasting -- at his new Terroir coffee company here. Howell chose this coffee as a winner of his "Cup of Excellence" this year. Its characteristics are "smooth and mellow," he explains.

In Nicaragua, Lopez and his cooperative grow coffee sold under the Fair Trade label, which guarantees family farmers a fair market price for their coffee, cocoa, and bananas and other fruit. In Boston recently, as part of a monthlong tour featuring tastings and events in five cities, Lopez and Ecuadoran banana grower Ivan Ramon met with chefs, retailers, and consumers at the Harvest Co-op Market in Jamaica Plain; Wild Oats Markets in Andover, Medford, and Saugus; and other cafes and businesses.

Kimberly Easson, an official of the Oakland, Calif., TransFair, which certifies and helps market Fair Trade products, translated for the farmers, who talked about the benefits to their families, communities, and the environment. Under the Fair Trade criteria, coffee farmers in Lopez's cooperative in the Madriz region of northwestern Nicaragua get two to three times the price they would earn on the open commodity market. Some of this money helps with education, improving housing, and even roads in his community, Lopez says. And because they get a premium for high-quality coffee, they can concentrate on a better product that is grown organically, one of the criteria TransFair emphasizes.

Howell, one of the earliest coffee entrepreneurs, sold his Coffee Connection stores to Starbucks in the mid-'90s and now offers his Terroir beans in shops and by mail. He has long been involved in seeking out small-scale farmers who grow excellent coffee beans. Nicaraguan co-ops such as Lopez's have been flexible about changing their ways to improve their coffee, and Fair Trade premiums both reward the farmer and help raise the quality of coffee, says Howell, as he slurps Nicaraguan coffee and compares it to cups from Costa Rica, Kenya, and Guatemala.

To Ramon, one of nine brothers in a farming family, a better environment is a big concern. He shows photographs of banana plants amid other crops and forest trees. The intercropping, very different from the large plantations -- where nothing but bananas is grown -- protects the forests, says the grower. "The most important thing is to take care of the environment for future generations," he declares.

TransFair's Easson, who is director of strategic relationships, said the events, which also included New York; Seattle; Portland, Ore.; and Milwaukee, were organized to raise consumer awareness of Fair Trade. TransFair, the only independent certifying organization of Fair Trade products in this country, reported a one-year growth in Fair Trade coffee sales of 91 percent in 2003; Fair Trade-certified products are sold in more than 20,000 retail outlets nationwide, the organization says.

The chance for the eight farmers to meet American consumers "is very empowering," says Easson. "Fair Trade is going mainstream."

Ramon also attended the Produce Marketing Association trade show in Anaheim, Calif., the first time a Fair Trade producer has been involved in such a large show, says Haven Bork, spokesman for TransFair. Although many markets and retail outlets, such as Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, now feature Fair Trade coffee, the produce is just beginning to make headway. "We're very aggressively marketing" produce -- especially the bananas, Bork says.

Fair Trade coffee is at Stop & Shop supermarkets, Starbucks, Peet's Coffee & Tea, and some independent coffee shops. Fair Trade bananas are available at Wild Oats groceries and Harvest Co-op markets in Jamaica Plain and Cambridge.