By Albert T. Armstrong
April 2008

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by Gretchen Gordon

Fair to the Last Drop:
The Corporate Challenges to Fair Trade Coffee

-By Eric Holt-Giménez, Ian Bailey, and Devon Sampson

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Coffee, Poverty and Crises

Coffee has long stood for both privilege and poverty. Since the time of the colonial coffee booms of the mid 1800s, coffee has been one of the world's most valuable export commodities, and today is among the top five in gross value of world trade.

"[L]et’s take this plan to the WTO because this plan does exactly what has been advocated by the WTO – it eliminates subsidies, addresses the issue of overproduction and helps establish better prices for farmers around the world.”

--Larry Mitchell, CEO, American Corn Growers Association.

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Larry Mictchell of the American Corn Growers testified yesterday for a change of course away from the current failed U.S. farm and trade policy yesterday before the Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management of the House Committee on Agriculture. He put forth the Food From Family Farms Act, which would reestablish a price floor based through re-enactment of a nonrecourse loan, strategic energy and food reserves, and international negotiations. This bill has been co-authored with ACGA and the National Family Farm Coalition, and its approach has been endorsed by over 60 groups that are part of the Building Sustainable Futures For Farmers Globally Campaign, which includes IATP.

“Courage is a muscle – the more you use it, the stronger it gets,” declared Rodolfo Robles, a Guatemalan labor leader who survived years of death threats for his organizing. To all the good people who are hopping mad about the US Congress' approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), Rolfo would say, keep organizing.

CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement that will include Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic, is facing mounting public opposition throughout Central America and the United States.

by Anders Riel Müller and Raj Patel


Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
May 2004

By Walden Bello

The Central American Free Trade Agreement, CAFTA, is a proposed trade agreement between the U.S. government and five Central American countries: Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. CAFTA has been met by mass protests in Central America, and the Bush administration is having trouble garnering even Republican votes in the US Congress. Ratifying CAFTA promises to be a highly symbolic legislative struggle, with the potential to significantly stall the free trade agenda. Citizen pressure is working and needs to continue! Tell your Representative to publicly oppose CAFTA: see the action steps below.

by Maximilian Eisenburger and Raj Patel


Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy
September 2003