Global Issues Flow Into America's Coffee

In the article "Global Issues Flow Into America's Coffee", Kim Bendheim, author and philanthropist,  in an article for the New York Times explores the pros and cons of fair trade coffee and the struggle to implement fair trade coffee sales. The article discusses why forcing companies to only buy and sell fair trade coffee really is just a blanket solution the the larger issue of overproduction.

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A really good argument the article brings up is the idea that farmers don’t need to produce more fair trade coffee, but rather companies need to help farmers shift to different crops so that the price of coffee will naturally rise. A pro of this would be a natural price increase based on supply and demand, not just government intervention, however, it would be incredibly hard on the already impoverished farmers to shift to a new crop, especially because the regions are best suited for coffee production.

Another unique solution is a proposed “ International Coffee Organization”, a group of 40 major importers and exporters that will control coffee supply and actually destroy low quality beans and stop production in areas not worth the time it takes to grow. This would help stop overproduction and raise selling prices for the farmers, and discourage it as a commonly grown crop.

Instead of just promoting fair trade coffee, by including viewpoints calling the Berkeley fair trade coffee measure--a measure that makes it illegal for shops to sell non-fair trade coffee, the article critiques fair trade enforcement as an encroachment on individual purchasing power.