Your Morning Coffee Is In Danger Will You Help

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[Music]

please raise your hand

if you drink coffee awesome

i love you more already imagine if

coffee farmers stopped

producing coffee and we had a

coffee-less world

that would be terrible we are headed in

that direction

a coffee-less world i need your help to

ensure that does not happen

allow me to highlight some things about

coffee

coffee is the second most traded

commodity in the world

coffee is a powerful instrument for

social

good more than 120 million people’s

livelihood depend on it

the average price of coffee

back in 1977 the year i

left the coffee farms and landed in this

wonderful country

was two dollars and 32 cents per pound

and today despite the increases in the

cost of living

that same pound of coffee is being sold

for a

dollar and two cents imagine

today coffee is paid at 44

of what was paid 43 years ago

this amigos is simply unacceptable

we are killing an industry and i need

your help to change this

you don’t need a degree in economics to

know that disparities like that have

serious consequences in honduras

in countries throughout the coffee

growing regions

those consequences loom large

coffee farm owners are taking chain

sauce to their plantings

hardsick over constantly losing money

in a market stacked against them

coffee farm workers are abandoning the

land and their native country

and joining caravans seeking entry to

the united states

the exodus from honduras has grown to a

flood

since the time i left and has created a

major humanitarian crisis

at the borders of this country as you

well know

there are a lot of reasons for the

economic despair

that besets honduras and is echoed

throughout

many countries in the world’s coffee

grown regions

but none is more salient than

colonialism

both political and economic

beginning early in the 20th century

honduras and its economy was essentially

controlled

by fruit and coffee companies in the

united states

it is the original banana republic

the operating model for those companies

was to maintain labor costs

at the lowest possible level in the

growing regions

while maximizing profits selling their

labor-intensive commodities

in the united states that

however is history i prefer to look at

the future

in a different way of doing business one

that embodies both the better angels of

human nature

and the skills i nurture in the

executive suites

of major corporations in this country

where i increasingly

felt compelled to make a difference in

the larger world

most particularly in the land of my

birth honduras

and that is exactly what i’m trying to

do with my fellow coffee farmers

make a difference by helping them get

paid a price that is

just a price where they can survive

sustain their families and sustain their

farms

coffee farmers are starving and

abandoning their farms

they can’t afford to provide for their

families and it has become

a world issue that we can help solve

through

direct trade also known

as farm to cup what exactly is direct

trade

direct trade is the term used by coffee

roasters who buy straight from the

growers

direct trade comes with rich stories of

the growers and it’s used to suggest

quality sustainability and

fair prices for the growers

i was raised in coffee farms in honduras

my family has been involved in coffee

farming for generations

but always struggle financially and

never able to get ahead

because while coffee is a relatively

high value product

once it is sold growers receive

only a minuscule percentage of their

products

ultimate value as you know

the early lessons are the ones that

stick with you

and when i was still an impressionable

11 year old

my mother taught me the most valuable

lesson of my life

to get ahead it is sometimes necessary

to disrupt

the way things are and because

she saw no future for us there in the

coffee farms

she disrupted all our lives by putting

my brother and me

on a plane in honduras to go live with

her ex-husband

our father in chicago

like us were abandoning the coffee farms

and fleeing the land of their birth in

the all-too-human hope

for a better future for themselves and

their children

this move disrupted our family and our

lives big time

i never lived with my mother again

but i got ahead in life i have been

blessed

and done lots from the streets in south

side chicago

to the u.s military to factory labor

to college cpa mba

and retired as president and chief

executive officer

of one of the founding companies of the

american stock exchange

and through all these years i learned

is not enough just to get ahead in life

you have to be willing to help others

get there as well

i’ve come to the realization that life

is

more about making an impact than making

an income

so let’s make positive impact

by using direct trade imagine

we can improve lives we can farm

sustainably

and we can drink extraordinary coffee

direct trade will bring the farmer a

higher price enabling them

to increase salaries to improve housing

and healthcare for their dedicated

workers

since 2016 our farm has had a direct to

roasted relationship with a medium-sized

usa-based roaster and retailer

this relationship has led to some very

significant improvements

in the lives of workers at our coffee

farm

i need your help to continue to disrupt

the supply chain and execute more direct

trade

business i want to emphasize the power

of disrupting the status quo

just like my mother disrupted our lives

43 years ago

so we can make improvements in the lives

of these coffee farmers

their families and their communities

i have witnessed the power of change in

all those arenas

and i share them with you to give you

food for thought

and challenge you beg you to change your

coffee consumption to direct

trade coffee only that’s your mission

our mission direct trade coffee only

the coffee industry depends on it

american capitalism is one of the most

productive

economic systems in the world

it has led to some astounding human

advances

and we cannot continue to allow coffee

farmers

in these third world countries to earn

less than a

cent every time we consume a three to

six dollar cup of coffee

if we continue this practice fewer and

fewer farmers will be left

and the coffee farming industry will

inevitably

fail because more and more coffee

farmers from central america

are abandoning their lands and joining

the caravans

snaking their way to the u.s border and

elsewhere

farmers in peru are turning from growing

coffee

to coca the source of cocaine

in hope of making a better living

farmers in

africa are abandoning unprofitable farms

in areas where struggling economies have

bred violence

amigos the real work of maintaining the

health of the coffee industry

by seeing that coffee farmers receive

fair payment for their laborers

ultimately depends on consumers like you

you are in charge of what coffee gets

placed in your supermarket shelves

you create the demand for the coffee you

want with your purchasing behavior

you have the power to make the ultimate

difference

by buying direct trade farm to cup

coffee

next time you buy coffee please ask your

barista

or store manager these basic questions

one do you know what country this coffee

comes from

two do you know the name of the farmer

in three do you know who roasted it

we all have the ability to improve the

lives of coffee farmers

their employees and their communities

set out to make a difference with every

sip of coffee you take

and you will find that making a

difference

not more profit is the greatest reward

life has to offer

thank you

you