Poor Farmer

In 1962 the countries that grow coffee and the countries that drink it agreed to share out the market by quota. Ethiopia's first act under the new system was to dispute the figures it had been given, and it had good reason to. On September 28, 1962, the International Coffee Agreement was signed at the United Nations in New York, and President Kennedy put out a statement welcoming it. It is three short paragraphs. The United States bought half the world's coffee, he said, so the agreement could not take effect until the United States ratified it. Coffee was the main source of foreign income for many poor countries, "particularly in Latin America," and a fall of one cent a pound cost Latin American producers fifty million dollars, enough to undercut the Alliance for Progress. Africa is not mentioned. I do not read that as a slight. Kennedy was speaking to Americans about a Latin American policy, and Latin America grew most of the world's coffee. But it is an hone...

A drop of one cent a pound for green coffee costs Latin American producers $50 million in export proceeds. STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE SIGNING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE AGREEMENT Public Papers of the Presidents: John F. Kennedy, 1962; and Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961 to 1963, Volume IX, Document 360 September 28, 1962 It gives me great satisfaction that the International Coffee Agreement was signed today at the United Nations in New York. It was signed on behalf of our country by Ambassador Adlai E. Stevenson and our principal negotiator, W. Michael Blumenthal, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs. I am submitting the Agreement to the Senate next week and shall urge that it be considered early in the next Congress. Since we account for 50 percent of world coffee imports, the Agreement cannot take effect until ratified by the United States. The Agreement is a heartening example of international cooperation to resolve a vitally important e...