Ethics in coffee farming and trading

– PROTECT THE ORIGIN –

Ethics in coffee farming and trading is an important factor, but it has not been properly assessed. Regardless of the industry, especially with the desire to develop sustainably, this factor cannot be overlooked. In the coffee industry, how is this factor expressed, and how influential is it? Let’s learn about the journey of creating ethical coffee beans with 43 Factory Coffee Roaster.

What is ethics in the coffee industry?

According to Wikipedia, ethics is a word used to refer to an element of a person’s character and values; is a system of rules and norms of the community and society

Ethics in the coffee industry can be generalized as a set of principles and standards that regulate, evaluate, guide and control the behavior of actors in the supply chain and coffee consumption.

Ethics are often expressed in the following principles:

– Honesty;

– Respect for people;

– Responsibility to the community and society.

The scope of these guidelines for the coffee industry includes farmers, purchasers, transporters, roasters and traders, and customers.

Ethics in the coffee industry can basically solve some of the key issues commonly encountered in farming and business:

– Using land for wrong purposes, abusing pesticides or using cheap products that affect and adversely affect the genetic background or plant structure, directly affecting the quality of the finished product. ;

– Farmers are exploited and paid disproportionately for the value of their products. Ensure the living and development conditions of farmers and the entire farming system;

– Swapping or using poor quality products with the price and commitment of high-quality coffee, affecting the transparency system and customer psychology;

– Using raw materials of poor quality, unsanitary preliminary processing, lack of content and sustainability for business and consumption purposes;

– Unsustainable coffee consumption.

The reality of ethics in coffee farming

In farming and purchasing activities

About human

It is a sad fact that farmers are being treated unfairly for their labor.

Coffee grows at high altitudes under specific climates, temperatures and soil conditions. In some places, because coffee trees cannot be grown on a local scale, coffee growers still have to depend on large-scale production of coffee beans to meet market demand.

With more than 2 billion cups of coffee being consumed every day around the world, you might think that the coffee industry is flourishing and therefore farmers will have a prosperous life. But in reality that is not the case.

In one survey, about 25 million coffee farmers worked on small, often family-run farms to produce coffee. About 12 million of these farmers live in poverty with an income of about $3.20 per day.

Not only low wages, but these people also have to work in difficult and dangerous working conditions. Many farm owners live in poverty, with poor sanitary conditions. Many homes are unfit for human habitation and are simply poorly constructed wooden shacks that do little to withstand extreme weather conditions. Even many places do not have clean drinking water.

A 2016 report gave an unbiased and heartbreaking look at working conditions like slaves on Brazil’s coffee farms. This shows the extent of the appalling effects faced by many workers working on one of the world’s most valuable commodities.

Usually, coffee is harvested in areas with relatively difficult conditions, where coffee farmers do not have a secure standard of living. That is why ethical issues need to be taken seriously.

About the working process

Hoạt động canh tác và thu mua cà phê cần rất nhiều vai trò của tính đạo đức từ mọi thành tố cấu tạo nên hệ thống này. 

In coffee farming it takes more than 4 years for farmers to harvest the first crop from the new crop system. In order to promote the growth and development of coffee plants, limit the destruction of pests and diseases, many places abuse chemical fertilizers and plant protection drugs. Many pesticides and insecticides that are sprayed directly on crops end up in the coffee that people drink every day and thus harm our bodies. This directly impacts the overall sustainability of the industry structure.

In addition, the lack of supply also causes the situation of purchasing from many sources to ensure output, leading to heterogeneous coffee quality, conditions on traceability are not guaranteed.

During the purchasing process, coffee is often pressured by traders for various reasons, making the selling price of coffee at the farm or production site too low compared to production costs. Equity, ethics and overall sustainability are severely affected.

In the consumer business

Business activities, besides taking profit as the development goal, also need to consider and stick to the social structure and responsibility to the community as well as understand the impacts of the operating process on the general ecosystem.

Many businesses, for the sake of profit, ignore ethical factors and choose unsustainable low quality and unsustainable business methods such as: using poor quality raw materials, without clear origin. clear; deceiving in the process of introducing and transmitting product values ​​to customers; there is no social welfare policy for employees of the enterprise or acts of tax evasion or avoidance of management sanctions of the current legal system.

How to ensure the ethics in the coffee industry?

One way to partly solve the ethical problem in the coffee industry is to use and buy coffee from farmers at a fair price.
When consumers choose coffees of clear origin to each household, it is first and foremost a recognition for the efforts of the farmers here. Moreover, the purchase from farmers themselves will reduce the intermediary stages, through which the interests of farmers will be more secure.

Besides, scientific and technical systems, blockchain applications are also gradually being popularized in all processes and general activities of the coffee industry. Detailed information on plant varieties, cultivation and processing methods, purchasing prices at different stages as well as specific information about suppliers help make the supply chain more sustainable. Ethics are concretized through information and numbers that also help buyers have a clearer view of product quality, make accurate consumer decisions and give worthy value to the right audience. .

These methods are being chosen by many roasters around the world, including 43 Factory Coffee Roaster. The factory always selects Specialty coffee beans with full information, ensuring transparency and ethical cooperation partners. Thereby promoting the quality of the coffee worthy and partly giving the solution to the economic problem posed to the farmers.

However, in reality, besides the government’s attention in the issue of coffee production conditions, welfare policies for staff at the farm or managing the selling price of coffee, how to solve this problem? The most thorough and thorough depends largely on the awareness of the responsibility and role of each component of this economy.

43 Factory Coffee Roaster upholds ethics in coffee business

Ethics in the coffee industry not only takes into account how it is produced, where and how it is purchased, but also considers where the coffee is consumed, in relation to the business of the business. We need to understand that, if a business wants to approach the ethical values ​​of coffee supply, it should apply equal care in all areas of its operating system. This means: considering where the food being served comes from and what the environmental/social impact of its production is, making sure the personnel working in the store are treated with respect and compensated. equal. And above all, make sure the business is run in an ethical manner – no tax evasion, promotion of equality and diversity in the workplace, and more.

43 Factory Coffee Roaster always shows transparency from price, origin, taste,… You can check that right on the coffee tag included with each cup of the finished product. We hope people get the right understanding of this coffee industry.

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