Poor Farmer

The Bigger Picture Read this and other outstanding commentaries from Policy Innovations . The backdrops drawn there enable us understand the issues we discuss here much better. "As the greatest beneficiary of globalization, the United States has a responsibility to give back to the system from which it benefits. In practical terms, this means the United States has an interest in working toward nurturing freedom and fairness not only at home but also in the global economy. It can do so by promoting fair and ethical trade practices, socially responsible business models, expanded stakeholder rights, and a stronger global civil society. The responsibility is great but fair for the biggest consumer of the world's resources." Devin T. Stewart January 29, 2007 Globalization is again under attack. Commentators from many perspectives have argued recently that globalization has reached a turning point and will never recover. Global inequities, failures of international institutio...

Reminiscent of the fate of Victoria’s Secret Reverend Billy, founder of the Church of Stop Shopping, joins the public movement calling on Starbucks to give Ethiopia what is rightfully hers. The highly respected Reverend is known by many for his unparalleled role in the fight for global and environmental justice. He has run many successful corporate campaigns including the recent campaign against Victoria’s Secret to stop the “clear-cutting of virgin forests” from the Canadian Rockies Mountains. The glossy pages of Victoria's Secret catalogues have been targeted as environmentally destructive products. The Reverend helped end the two year campaign by environmentalists to convince the company to utilize recycled papers for its catalogues. Reverend Billy once again stands for justice and is now siding with the Ethiopian farmers to correct the imbalance of power between Starbucks and Ethiopia. He wants to see Starbucks help the poor farmers help themselves out of poverty by making use ...

Ashley Seager Monday January 29, 2007 The Guardian A campaign by Ethiopia to get a fair price for its coffee - some of the world's finest - kicks off in London today as a spokesman for the east African country's impoverished coffee growers meets Tony Blair. The meeting will be accompanied by a screening of the film Black Gold - a movie on the global coffee industry - to MPs at Westminster, who will also be addressed by the Ethiopian ambassador to Britain. The spokesman, Tadesse Meskela, who is the subject of Black Gold, together with the film's English makers, brothers Nick and Marc Francis, are a serious irritant to some of the world's coffee giants - in particular Seattle-based Starbucks, whose annual turnover of $7.8bn (£4bn) is not much lower than Ethiopia's entire gross domestic product. Mr Meskela runs the Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union in Ethiopia, representing about 105,000 coffee growers, and struggles to get the best price - although it is nowhe...

Partnership Aims to Enhance Recognition and Promotion of Ethiopian Coffees (CSRwire) London and Washington D.C. January 29, 2007 Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc., a leading roaster and distributor of specialty coffees, has signed a Letter of Intent with the Government of Ethiopia that signifies a commitment to work with Ethiopian fine coffee stakeholders on their initiative to bring greater value to Ethiopian coffees and coffee producers. As part of this partnership, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters will provide its expertise in further developing the program to ensure that premium coffees from Ethiopia are recognized for their distinctive tastes and qualities and to establish better treatment and pricing for Ethiopian farmers. In 2005, the Ethiopian government filed applications with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and foreign trademark offices to protect its rights to its three heritage coffees –- Sidamo, Yirgacheffe and Harar. The Government of Ethiopia has also been talki...

Oxfam America Press Release 29 January 2007 For more information, contact:Helen DaSilva, Press Officer 617-728-2409 617-331-2984 (mobile) hdasilva@oxfamamerica.org BOSTON -- Today's announcement that Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has agreed to work closely with Ethiopia to raise the value that Ethiopian farmers receive from their coffees is a welcome first step that other companies should follow, says international agency Oxfam. The formal Letter of Intent between Green Mountain -- a major coffee roaster and distributor in the US -- and Ethiopia "is an initiative made in good faith between a major company, the government, and a national stakeholder group that includes farmer cooperatives," said Raymond C. Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. "Developing countries need greater control over their own agricultural markets in order to negotiate a fair return from the quality and reputation of their products. Coffee companies that expect to thrive in a global market ...

Starbucks has just hired a lobbying firm, the Rosa Whitaker Group , to advance the company’s interests internationally, most particularly in Africa. Rosa Whitaker was the Assistant US Trade Representative for Africa under both Presidents Clinton and Bush Administrations before she left to form her lobbying group in 2002. For now, Ethiopia is the primary focus of Starbucks, thus the need for a well connected new lobbying firm. Rosa Whitaker will attend the 4th African Fine Coffee Conference & Exhibition, 15th-17th February, 2007 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on behalf of Starbucks. More to come soon.

Douglas B. Holt* 26 January 2007 The Starbucks Corporation is working with its lobbying group, the National Coffee Association (NCA), to block efforts by a coalition of Ethiopian coffee producers to secure US trademarks on two of Ethiopia’s most valuable coffee brands—Sidamo and Harrar. [1] Ethiopia’s coffee coalition wants to own the trademarks in order to increase profits on these brands, which could substantially raise the incomes of the estimated 6 million Ethiopians who are dependent on the fine coffee trade. The coalition has successfully registered the trademarks for Sidamo, Harrar and Yirgacheffe in other important markets including the EU and Canada. The coalition was able to get Yirgacheffe approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) before Starbucks and the NCA had time to act. Following the approval of Yirgacheffe, the NCA filed Letters of Protest—legal documents exceeding 400 pages—against the registration of both Sidamo and Harrar. On the basis of this protest...

This week, Coffee Politics highlighted information suggesting as though a meeting between Starbucks experts, NCA, Ethiopian government officials, and representatives of cooperatives was going to be held in Geneva. The information was based on this report which has now proved to be inaccurate as it was based on an outdated statement. Though there was an idea suggested by Starbucks in December 2006 to hold a meeting in Geneva, there is no such plan at the moment.

A must-read analysis by Oxford Marketing Professor, Douglas B. Holt (Originally posted here with permission from the author on Nov 17, 2006) On this page, also read the following: Ethiopia presents an early test to Starbucks’ 2007 growth strategies   Storm in a coffee cup: Starbucks defends itself over Oxfam campaign   Feel Good: Only 94% of Our Coffee is Unfairly Traded The Unfortunate Trio Blend: Starbucks, Black Gold, Ethiopia   Brand Hypocrisy at Starbucks by Douglas B. Holt Download this article here (PDF). Efforts by the Ethiopian coffee sector to trademark Ethiopia’s most valuable coffee brands have come to a screeching halt, courtesy of The Starbucks Corporation. The coffee sector is pursuing trademarks in all major international markets on Sidamo, Yirgecheffe, and Harrar so that they can then apply sound marketing techniques to increase the commercial value of these brands. The goal is to significantly raise the incomes of many of the 15 millio...

By Wondwossen Mezlekia According to online sources, Starbucks’ growth strategy for 2007 is three-dimensional - store expansion, product development, and Socially & Environmentally Responsible (SER) coffee purchasing. Starbucks CEO Jim Donald reportedly stressed, during the fourth-quarter conference call, that purchasing socially and environmentally friendly coffee is as important an initiative as the other two. We will have to live and see whether Donald’s promises translate into practice but it is apparent, right from the onset, that the ongoing dispute between Starbucks and Ethiopian coffee farmers is a lead up to testing the strategy and Starbucks’ commitment to live up to its words. Though none of the strategies are new, in my view, Social & Environmental Responsibility (SER) continues to be the pillar and a challenge for Starbucks as long as coffee is the core of the business because of the importance of sustainability of supply. Market data indicate that Starbucks stands ...