Fairtrade has launched a new campaign for International Coffee Day on 1 October to highlight how low prices in conjunction with the effects of climate change has threatened the future of coffee supplies in the United Kingdom.
“Coffee brings so us so much joy each morning, but more needs to be done to ensure that coffee farmers in low-income countries are supported to live and work well and can afford to build the resilience needed to tackle the devasting impacts of the climate crisis,” says Fairtrade Foundation CEO Michael Gidney.
The market price for coffee has dropped to below the cost of production, threatening the livelihood of farmers who have to cover their farming and living costs with the income they earn from coffee.
In response, Fairtrade has raised its minimum price for coffee to USD$1.80 per pound, considered the ‘safety net’ for farmers to help protect them from extreme drops in the market price and the impacts of climate change.
Farmers also receive a USD$0.20 per pound Social Premium to invest in projects to improve productivity, climate adaptation, quality, infrastructure, and basic community services identified as priorities by the farmers.
The campaign will feature a special promotional partnership between Cooperativa Manizales, a Fairtrade coffee cooperative in Colombia, and their retail partners.
Farmers from the cooperative will create shareable content to thank the British public for buying their coffee, and to show the impact of choosing Fairtrade can have. This content will feature across the Fairtrade Foundation’s social media channels and website as well as their own.
“It’s very difficult to grow coffee now because rainfall patterns have changed and my farming costs and gone up,” says coffee farmer and member of Cooperative Manizales in Columbia, Angelica Maria Escobar Valencia. “Fairtrade gives me a safety net through the Minimum Price and Premium and the specialist training I receive from the producer network in Colombia.”
The Fairtrade Foundation believes it can harness the British sense of fair play when it comes to choosing Fairtrade coffee this International Coffee Day.
“Through this campaign, we want to help more consumer recognise the role they have in making a real, tangible difference to the lives of people who grow the beans that go into our morning latte in the UK,” says Gidney.
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