Your Morning Coffee Is In Danger Will You Help
[Music]
[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