Coffee Certification

Today, coffee certification is everywhere, in grocery stores, restaurants, and even in offices. Marc Schonland, our vice president of coffee strategy says: “Today the consumer wants to know where their purchases are coming from. This is especially true in the food supply chain, and coffee is no different." So should you care if your coffee is certified? Schonland says: "Certifications offer various third-party assurances to the consumer. They can attest to environmentally friendly farming practices and can go all the way up to organic certification. They can provide assurances that no child labor was involved in the production of the coffee. Some programs focus more heavily on the prices paid to the producers. Certification programs typically have different focuses and consumers should educate themselves on how they differ and make a personal selection based on the quality of the product and program’s focus." Schonland points out that while there are many options for the “certified-minded consumer”, it is also important to recognize the many additional sources and supply of coffee that is not certified but is still produced in environmentally friendly ways, with excellent work and safe practices. Types of Coffee Certifications Bird Friendly , this certification comes from what I think is a pretty surprising source, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in Washington D.C. This type of certification is very strict compared to the others because before obtaining this certification, you must first obtain organic certification. This certification almost always comes from family farms and basically says that this coffee was grown in a more natural environment, and the growth and harvesting of coffee are incorporated into the natural environment. In a normal scenario, when a farm is ready to grow coffee, the land is cleared and trees are planted. However, with a bird-friendly certification, the farms provide a good, forest-like habitat for the birds, where the coffee is planted under a canopy of trees instead of being grown on farms that have been cleared of vegetation. As with others, bid-friendly certification does not go into anything else, such as labor remuneration or working conditions. This is probably the strictest certification of all and, depending on the level of concern for this type of issue, is the one you should ask at the local monastery or cafe. Fair Trade , Fairtrade International was established in Germany in 1997 and brings together various global initiatives under a single umbrella organization that sets a set of international standards for fair trade. Its purpose is to ensure that coffee is grown according to a set of strict standards that encourage environmental sustainability, as well as to ensure that the people involved in production have been treated and compensated correctly. In Short, the fair trade certification model pays manufacturers a “fair trade” price over the market, provided they meet specific labor, environmental, and production standards. It should be noted here that the certification of fair trade has changed recently, because initially there was a division between 2 groups, Fair Trade USA and Fair Trade International, due to which only small or both large and small farms should obtain certification. To make matters even more confusing, Fair Trade USA has split up again and so is there now a third organization called Fair Trade America, which is independent of the two but more closely aligned with Fair Trade International? Rainforest Alliance , Sometimes people assume that Rainforest Alliance and fair trade are one and the same and/or have the same goals. Even though both assist coffee growers, there are some distinct differences. The supervisor and the organization that controls this non-profit certification is based in New York and whose mission is not only to protect the environment, i.e. the rainforest and deforestation, but also the rights of coffee growers with this certification. Due to