The roaster that supplies them is not certified organic, but by some stretch of their imagination and public trust, they feel that they can call their product organic. Similarly some coffee purveyors would like you to think that “direct trade” is comparable to “fair trade.” It isn’t because there is no independent, 3rd party oversight. These folks want the economic benefits for themselves of appearing to sell a higher value product, but do not support the organizations that are trying to protect the values underlying organic and fair trade food production. —Steamin’ About Beans
This article appears in Aug 25-31, 2011.
This isn’t a new phenomenon…
Aaawwww, another victim of Green-washing. Unless you are getting your beans straight from the civet’s bum, there is going to be some element of nasty old capitalistic greed in your Campesino brand double-double. Even the filthiest, most run downfair trade emporium with the most indifferent, perpetualy stoned counter staff is not operating as a non-profit. Wake up and smell the…. Oh what’s the fucking point.
Misleding advertizing, who’d a thunk.
That’s why I buy my coffee at the 1-2-3 Hundered Dollar Store.
um, the coffee beans ARE organic, of that I can assure you.
Coffee would be pretty awful if they weren’t….
I mean brewing plastic beans… or styrofoam beans… yuck.
do they use Quotes around organic?
I don’t know the regulatory requirements…
just stating the obvious.
and I guess the ‘fair’ in ‘fair trade’ depends on who is dealing…
I’d say 1000 lbs of beans for my brand new penny is fair….
though others may not.
It even has a buffalo on it… c’mon, that’s fair.
As long as the coffe is good and affordable, I really don’t give a shit where it comes from or who or how it was harvested. This “Fair Trade” and “Organic” crap is just a marketing scheme to charge more and the person picking it still gets paid crap wages.
I agree, the whole organic/fair trade certification needs to be changed. Some government research document (I think Library of Parliament) reported that the Canada’s organic agricultural industry may have strategic challenges arising from the lack of uniformity and transparency in their certification rules, relative to those in Europe and the United States. Without making judgements about how this translates into the quality of products, one implication of this is that Canadian producers of these “standardized” products may have troubles entering European markets if the importing countries lack confidence in the Canadian standard (or set of standards) – which translates into fewer exports and fewer Canadian jobs.
However, to be fair, the bigger problem here is what is known as a problem of asymmetric information: companies know more about their products than their consumers do, and they are able to profit from their informational advantage, sometimes with a loss of welfare to an individual (not knowing when your cell phone contract expires) and other times with serious public costs (the government not knowing that a company processes its food products next to a hazardous waste site). This is not unique to coffee, but is much more rampant in even more important industries – insurance and utilities, to name the biggest culprits. What it really comes down to is dishonesty, since transactions are not being completed in good faith and companies are selling their products without revealing all the relevant facts – something that is supposedly illegal in the real estate market.
So in short: yes this sucks, it sucks for the economy, it sucks for individuals, but it’s good for companies. And since companies can pay off decision makers, don’t expect it to change.
hey, don’t forget.. companies are people too… and usually more rich people than most ‘actual’ people… so they make the rules.
get this now o.p., if they are grown from the soil, they are”gasp” organic. maybe not your fancy smancy monkey or cat shit beans, but still grown from soil, which is also organic.
now if they came out of a woman’s cunt, then they would be orgasmic, and i would buy a whole fucking crop.
but do yourself and us a giant favor, give your head, a good fucking shake,willya.
OP, who cares. When people need a coffee fix, they’ll drink coffee….they don’t go out and research the grounds before handing over their cash.
Caffeine is a hell of a drug.
sebastien_ quit being a dbag.
LS – it’s not organic because the soil isn’t “natural” anymore as it’s chalk full of pesticides and what not, which, in addition to killing “pests”, actually kills many of the valuable nutrients in the soil. You would know this if you were consciously paying attention to anything beyond the 1950s, but unfortunately you’re still more than a half-century behind the rest of the world.
canned…
he and I were using the definition of organic….
not the organic term derived by food and health agencies.
“The organic matter in soil derives from plants and animals. In a forest, for example, leaf litter and woody material falls to the forest floor. This is sometimes referred to as organic material.[1] When it decays to the point in which it is no longer recognizable it is called soil organic matter.”
THAT organic. as in organic… and not ‘Organic’
Your definition and conclusion are incompatible. You say on the one hand that organic means derived from the soil, or from plants and animals. And then, since coffee beans are grown in soil, you conclude that they are organic. But you’re glossing over the details, namely that the soil from which coffee beans are derived is often spoiled by the use of chemically manufactured products meant to enhance crop productivity. But note that your definition of organic (from Wikipedia I might add) does not include any mention of synthetic chemicals.
My definition of organic is not from any of the food agencies. It’s based on the fact that organic implies a mainly biological process, one that minimizes the use human-manufactured products, in particular the use of synthetic chemicals.
canned, most people don’t give a shit. They want food that’s affordable and plentiful.
canned, i think you have been fucked over by the media hype for this bullshit nonsense. if i were to plant said bean, out in a wooded area, away from all chemicals, then what the fuck would you call that, free range coffee beans? you are one sick fucked up person.
I work at a coffee shop… one that’s recently become all “organic/fair trade” pimping. I couldn’t care less where the coffee comes from or how it was harvested myself, but some customers are super duper concerned about it, and I sorta think it’s just a crock of shit. It’s the most annoying thing ever. And I have people ask about it all the time.
“Organic” has been far too overused.
Bro Tim, you think most people don’t give a shit, but what proof do you have. Any consumer survey reports, by any chance? Even if you expected people not to give a shit, that doesn’t preclude their right to having the information to make that decision on their own.
LS: if your coffee beans were grown out in a wooded area and away from all chemicals then they would be organic. But I’m not sure you can grow coffee in “wooded areas.” Please inform. Regarding “free range”, that is a concept applied to animal husbandry. It involves allowing your cattle to roam free. Although plants (e.g. coffee) are able to migrate, they do not roam.
but there’s a whole field out there… the beans are free to roam, they just don’t.
is there a sector of ‘forced’ free range chicken?
“You get your clucking ass out there and run around a bit you damn bird!”
If they choose to sit on their ass and stare at the field all day, are they still “free range”?
my guess is that they would be sold as so.
Correct, beans don’t roam. Good for you. By extension they cannot be ‘free range’ because being free implies the possibility of not being free, which does not apply to beans – at least not in real life.
“If they choose to sit on their ass and stare at the field all day, are they still “free range”?”
Yes, that would constitute free range and it would be appropriate to market it as such. In addition to “sitting on their asses”, animals also graze in these fields, and, compared to factory farms, the food they eat in free range fields translate into healthier food for humans. Meat that comes from free range/grass fed animals have lower fat and more vitamins. And, unless you buy your meat from a supermarket, chances are it won’t contain ammonia, pink slime, or dangerous amounts of staphylococcus aureus.
thank you jebus for the lowly chickpea
canned, it ain’t that difficult. Stand outside a Timmie’s and then an “Organic Fair Trade” shop, and the facts become quite evident.
I think the entire “Organic” movement is a form of greenwashing. I’ll tolerate organic food if it comes to me for free, but I’ll be damned if I pay double for products of negligibly higher quality. Local produce I can get behind and would support, especially if I can, again, get it at a competitive price. Coffee is not important enough to me to care about anything other than price, unless my kid’s school is selling it as their fundraiser and, even then, it may be two or three times a year. tl;dr – price will almost always be foremost in my mind. Sorry.