Is This The End of Organic Coffee?

[Jcrowley]

Is this the end of organic coffee?

Thanks to a recent hush-hush USDA ruling, your clean-conscience, fair-trade, organic latte may soon be a thing of the past.

By Samuel Fromartz

Enjoy your organic coffee now, while it's hot -- because it may not be around for long.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly released a ruling that alarmed organic certifiers and groups who work with third-world farmers. The decision tightens organic certification requirements to such a degree that it could sharply curtail the ability of small grower co-ops to produce organic coffee -- not to mention organic bananas, cocoa, sugar and even spices. Kimberly Easson, director of strategic relationships for TransFair USA, the fair trade certification group, puts it bluntly: "This ruling could wipe out the organic coffee market in the U.S."

TransFair USA is not the only organization sounding the alarm. In the past week, I spoke with nonprofits, businesses and organic certifiers, all of whom are concerned that the USDA ruling will catastrophically raise costs for small-scale producers of organic goods and likely push them back into conventional commodity markets.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/food/eat_drink/2007/04/03/coffee_organic/index_np.html

[nam78_two]

1. K&R/nt

[DCKit]

2. What, are they going to require that the farmers use Melamine fertilizer

or add some gluten?

[tomreedtoon]

3. The end of "yuppie coffee?" GOOD!

"Gourmet" or "organic" coffee are pretentious frauds. Here's the truth.

The only purpose for coffee is to keep you awake. There is no "good-tasting" coffee. There are only varying degrees of putridness. Anyone who thinks coffee "tastes good" probably grazes in the dumpster behind a slaughterhouse.

Anyone stupid enough to pay more for these "prestige" coffees is an idiot. Anyone buying "ecological" coffee that thinks the much higher price actually goes to the poor schlubs who grow it is a double-idiot.

You would be better off drinking Pepsi-Cola or Mountain Dew, which has as much caffein as coffee, and actually tastes remarkably good, than the diluted diarhhea you people call "coffee." If you must drink it, to keep from falling asleep at work, drink the cheapest kind their is. Ordinary People Coffee from the pot at work. And hold your nose while drinking it.

[Robeysays]

huh?

:freak:

[bettyellen]

6. because sodas are better, and better for you! - i felt that way when i was eight years old.

now, not so much.

[jgraz]

8. Actually, I find attention-seeking trolls to be the most stimulating consumables

How 'bout you?

[underseasurveyor]

59. ha ha

right on :thumbsup:

[Maraya1969]

10. Not "Yuppie coffee" Organic and free trade coffee. Big difference

Free Trade is giving growers a working wage instead of making them live in poverty to support corporate megalomania.

And coffee has good properties in it. Soda is flavored plastic in a bottle.

[slowry]

11. You are as clueless about coffee

as Bush is about... well, everything :).

p.s. pop is gooey sugary poo.

[petunia.here]

35. gooey sugary gm corn syrup goo to boot

no thanks,
I'll take my "yuppie" coffee over that crap any day.
cheers
~o)

[tkmorris]

13. I'm not gonna flame ya.

Even though you do deserve it. I'll simply say this: you haven't the foggiest idea what you are talking about. None. Zero. Nada.

Yuppee coffee sucks. Starbucks sucks. But there is a great big ole world out there that goes way beyond that crap, and it is quite good if you actually know what you're looking for.

Oh, and.... spellcheck. Just sayin'.

[SpiralHawk]

21. Thanks for all the evidence to support your diatribe. Not.

sheesh. Excuse me while I pour a cup of organic robusto to help wash down your invective.

Next time, try a few facts to support your personal hates.

People who know a thing about how coffee is grown and marketed will be snarfing with incredulity in your direction because you sound like such a Total Republicon with your rant.

[populistdriven]

31. no one here has said anything accurate yet about coffee

This may hurt small producers but how many days does it take to certify?

Buying organic coffee makes sense if you do it to protect the environment and the workers.

If you buy it mostly to be 'healthy' you are wasting your money. Because of the way coffee is washed & roasted the risk of ingesting pesticide & herbicide residues is infinitesimal compared to the real risks from fresh foods like vegetables & fruits.

Coffee in moderate amounts is a health benefit for most people. The largest source on average of antioxidants ingested by Americans is from coffee.

The best (healthiest and tasting) cheapest coffee is purchased green and roasted yourself. Most of the good flavors are gone 2-3 weeks after roasting. You might as well take nodoze instead of starbucks or maxwell house. A recent consumer reports taste test rated mcdonalds coffee as better tasting than starbucks. Probably because they can control the freshness prior to brewing.

Personally I roast my own 4$ / pound green beans (bought from a local roaster) 1x per week and drink 2-5 cups of japanese green tea daily (from costco).

fair trade / shade grown is a huge benefit to growers / environment

Soft drinks are extremely bad for you and should be avoided at all costs (for dozens of reasons)

[DotGone]

47. MickyD's coffee tastes better than Starbucks

because Starbucks is burnt crap. Anything tastes better than that liquid charcoal. I'd second roasting your own beans as well. Minimal costs for much better coffee.

[populistdriven]

58. WELCOME TO DU!!! U think we should start a coffee roasting thread/discussion?'

:bounce:

it would be cool to get different peoples roasting expertise...

perhaps in this section?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=222

[suziedemocrat]

17. Most Soft-drinks haver Phosphoric Acid - best to avoid them.

That's the reason soft-drinks need so much sweetener, to overcome the sour taste of Phosphoric Acid.

From: http://life.familyeducation.com/nutrition-and-diet/healthy-lifestyle/36000.html

Phosphoric Acid
The chemicals in soda pop fall under the categories of artificial flavorings, artificial color additives and dyes, acidifying agents, buffering agents, viscosity-producing agents, foaming agents, and preservatives. One of these chemical additives, phosphoric acid, is added to many kinds of soda pop to help keep the carbonated bubbles from going flat. Because good health depends upon our bodies being able to maintain a one-to-one balance between calcium and phosphorus in our systems, calcium is released from our teeth and bones into our bloodstreams to help balance the phosphoric acid in the pop we drink. Eventually the phosphoric acid is excreted, taking with it the released calcium. Thus, a habit of soft drink consumption actually robs our bodies of calcium, leading to a condition known as osteoporosis – soft teeth and weak bones.

Phosphoric acid is also known to neutralize the hydrochloric acid in our stomachs. This is unfortunate, for we need hydrochloric acid to help us digest our food and utilize its nutrients. It is especially required for calcium utilization. So, not only does phosphoric acid leach calcium from our bones, it also prohibits hydrochloric acid from helping to restore it. Bones and teeth just can't win with this stuff in our diet.

In a survey designed to measure the amount of phosphoric acid in twenty different soft drinks, the following were found to contain the highest amounts: Tab, Coke, Diet Coke, caffeine-free Coke, and Mr. Pibb.5 The formulas may have been changed for the better since this survey was conducted. Read labels. By the way, Pepsi Free, Diet Pepsi Free, Like Cola, 7-Up, and Mountain Dew had no phosphoric acid in them. This, however, does not mean that these products are free from the other problems true of soft drinks.

Also, I'm having a cup of 1/2 Green Mountain, Fair Trade, Organic, Sumatran Reserve with 1/2 warm organic Milk and some sugar-in-the-raw and it tastes fantastic to me!

[cali]

18. er, you don't seem to realize that

this is simply a matter of individual taste. Personally, I loath the piss you call Mountain Dew or Pepsi, and love a good cup of coffee, brewed from my own excellent spring fed water and freshly ground organic beans, with a little cream and a touch of maple syrup.

As they say: to each his own.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

27. LOL

My gramps bought me a Mountain Dew, at a gas station in the late Sixties.

It was new to Kansas City. And I wanted one.

He said, "That looks like a bottle of piss, there."

And gave me a big ole grampa grin!

Haven't drunk a bottle since . . .

[slj0101]

19. What does the taste of coffee (or your own conpempt of it)

have to do with the lousy working conditions that workers endure while picking coffee beans?

Never mind, don't answer that. :eyes:

[cascadiance]

20. So, you'd rather catch diabetes early by HFCS infested corporate soft drinks!

I love coffee (and try to use "fair trade" certified to bypass the Folger's and Maxwell House middlemen, who use their monpoly power to try and grab most of the profit and leave the farmers starving and moving to other "outsourcing" jobs to take work away from American workers.

Shade grown coffee is also good in that it helps preserve the rain forest and other parts of the environment that helps us to keep from destroying the environment down there as well as keep down global warming and even getting better quality coffee to boot. Stop the slashing of the rain forest to pack more coffee beans per acre which ultimately destroys the land even for growing good coffee over the long haul.

Organic coffee helps us mandate keeping out GMO based plants, etc. that are also destroying things like the bees, etc. too which also upset the equilibrium of nature.

Keeping these labels and having them mean things constructively that both the consumer can use as well as the producer can practically use is a good way for both of them to fight back at the corporate exploiters that try to maximize their profits at all of our expense.

As for soft drinks, give me a Jones soda or a Boylans over those you mention any day. At least those use cane sugar instead of the subsidized HFCS that is shown to be more likely each day to be creating a generation of young kids that are catching diabetes that didn't use to happen when the industry used cane sugar for its soft drinks.

And BTW, the coffee industry is the second largest commodity market in the world next to oil too! So YES, it does make a difference to the world how we spend our money on it!

[toddaa]

24. Explain the existance of decaffeinated coffee

twit

[tomreedtoon]

55. There is no explanation....tweedle.

Drinking "decaffeinated coffee" for the flavor is like eating liver for the flavor.

I suspect you and the other 25 people who responded to my Post Of Truth are all in denial. You were taught that coffee is "what grownups drink." You are as brainwashed as Bushies.

You are also taught that "sugar is poison." Well, I drink diet soda, when I need to drink it - and I drink the proper 2.2 liters of water each day, it isn't my only beverage.

Wait a minute? Why am I justifying my life to you? You think coffee tastes GOOD! You probably think licking the wrappers of McDonald's hamburgers is the fitting end to a gourmet meal. Tweedle.

[toddaa]

57. Chicken Liver and Scrambled Eggs

With a piping hot cup of coffee.

You are making me hungry.

[slowry]

60. Coffee has been around over a millennium.

And you're suggesting that people drink it because it makes them feel like "grown-ups"? To put it bluntly: you are being fucking daft. Just because something isn't gooey and sweet doesn't mean it tastes "bad".

As for your suggestion that sugar and coffee are mutually exclusive... well, daft again. There has to be some deeply traumatic story which explains your disdain for coffee :tinfoilhat:.

[Pachamama]

25. Not sure your ridiculous post merits a serious response, but here are some facts:

The OP didn't say "the end of all Lattes and Cappucinos and closing down of all Starbucks and Peet's Coffee stores"....So your first statement of "the end of Yuppie Coffee" is inaccurate.

Only a small fraction of the specialty coffees sold in the US in coffee houses like Starbucks are either Fair Trade or Organic. Most Organic and Fair Trade Coffees are sold in 1/2 pound or 1 pound packages to people who make it at home. These coffees usually cost more and most people who buy them do it because they are trying to further the purchase of sustainably grown, fair trade and organic coffees if available. Those people are hardly "yuppies" - if anything, they genuinely care to try and make a difference. Most people would define a yuppie as someone who drives their SUV and doesn't care about Fair trade etc.

It's inaccurate to claim that anyone buying sustainably grown products isn't helping the farmers that grow it, or as you put it "the poor schlubs who grow it". There are plenty of organizations that are working with these growers, most of them smaller family farms (as opposed to the large corporate ones) that allow them to actually stay in business instead of getting gobbled up by the big Agri-corporate farms.

Finally, regarding suggestion that we'd all be better of drinking Pepsi or Mountain Dew: Your assumption that we all drink coffee for caffeine is where you made the first incorrect assumption, because many of us drink decaf. Also, most of those beverages contain either way too much sugar or corn syrup or if they are diet, they contain artificial sweeteners that aren't good for your health. Finally, soda beverages contain Phosphorus that interferes with the absorption of calcium by the bones. Its one of the reasons that it is so dangerous for pregnant women to drink sodas while pregnant because there is a risk that the developing fetus starts getting its calcium from the bones of the mother and if she isn't getting the proper calcium and is deficient, then there is a risk of any lead or other hazardous substances stored in the mothers bones, getting absorbed into the developing fetus as it tries to get the necessary calcium in its own bone development. Any OBGyn would rather see their pregnant patient drinking a decaffeinated coffee than a decaf soda anyday - even a caffeinated coffee occassionally would be safer.

[Matariki]

28. wow. you really don't know what you're talking about. n/t

i'd suggest doing a little bit of research before going off crazy like that. start with googling 'fair trade coffee' and maybe research how many chemicals are found in non-organic coffee.

and as far as taste goes, maybe you've killed all your taste buds or something?

[Cha]

30. That's

bullshit.

[Dora]

33. I'll say it: Stupidest Fucking Post of the Day.

The poster must be confusing the taste of coffee with the scent of ass that persistently haunts him as a result of having his head shoved so far up his own.

[Steven_S]

41. OK, I'll say it: Laugh Out Loud Post of the Day....

Dora, you rock. If I had been drinking coffee it would have been launched onto the screen. :)

[Kool Kitty]

46. I'll second that.

My first "laugh out loud" moment of the day. Dora-:yourock:

[Richard Steele]

48. Someone had to. Thanks, Dora! :) nm

[Hoooweee]

37. there's a difference in the way the beans are grown

Robusta beans (the Ordinary People Coffee) are grown mostly in the sun at low-altitude equatorial climates. In an effort to produce greater profits, many farmers of robusta beans use slash and burn techniques to put more land under cultivation or replace land that has lost its nutrients. In places like Indonesia, this has led to massive deforestation.

Arabica beans are shade-grown. They are also more likely to be grown in co-ops which yield higher profit to the individual farmers and less to the fatcats on Wall Street.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030425071725.htm

[I Have A Dream]

38. Whatever, dude.

:eyes:

[mzmolly]

40. I pay the same for organic coffee as I do for non-organic.

I prefer to stay awake sans pesticides. I also prefer not to contribute to the poisoning of workers/environment.

[rman]

43. Wow, no evidence whatsoever

to support your claim that money from sales of "organic" coffee is not going to "poor schlubs".

[kenny blankenship]

44. Keep drinking that industrial runoff and poison you favor

your diabetes will thank you.

[Richard Steele]

45. Wow, did Juan Valdez used to beat you up every day after kindergarden or something?

[Canuckistanian]

50. My, aren't we cynical, ignorant and self-centered

Well, actually not me.

[Critters2]

51. Fair trade coffee is about protecting workers and the environment

fighting the effects of globalization.

You clearly have NO idea what you're ranting about.

[Raine]

52. all that sugar in soda

uh no thanks. x(

[Jcrowley]

54. This post should be nominated

Never have I seen one post within a thread receive so many comments in a thread. And percentage wise it's off the charts. 24, now 25, responses are to this single remark. Remark #3 for those keeping score at home.

It must be tremendous insight or incredible absurdity that drives the respondants to address #3's statement.

I LOVE coffee. It tastes good. Very good.

It keeeps me awake. I like being awake.

Wide awake.

[robinlynne]

4. What are the new restrictions? new restrictions to certify organic are a GREAT thing.

The problem has been basically the opposite: walmart getting restriciotns removed. so exactly what are these restrictions?

[jgraz]

9. The agenda is the same in both cases

To destroy the organic designation for all foods. After all, they don't use enough petroleum products in their farming.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. All members of a cooperative must be inspected every year now, instead of a 5 year rotation

The USDA's controversial ruling hinges on methods of organic certification -- a process in which inspectors visit farms and walk through fields, review growing methods, and see what measures the farmer is taking to avoid pests and weeds. If the methods comply with regulations, the inspector then makes a recommendation to a certification agency; and if the farm is approved, it is certified for one year and granted permission to carry the organic label on its products. The USDA National Organic Program has overseen this process since 2002, when a patchwork of state organic standards were codified under a national regime.

Until now, however, there has been a special provision for "grower groups" that made certification practical for farmer cooperatives in the Third World, whose memberships can reach into the thousands. Because of the immense logistical demands of inspecting every farm in a large co-op, a compromise was reached: An organic inspector would randomly visit only a portion of the group's farms each year, usually 20 percent. The grower groups would then self-police the remainder through a manager who made sure they followed the rules. The following year, an inspector would return and visit another 20 percent of the farms. After five years, all farms would be inspected.

But in the ruling made public this month, the National Organic Program overturned that system, saying every farm in a grower group must now be visited and inspected annually -- as has been the practice in the United States -- rather than only a percentage.
...
If the ruling is unchallenged, certification costs will rise precipitously for co-ops in developing countries. Lebi Perez, training coordinator for Organic Crop Improvement Association International, a U.S. certification group active in Mexico and Central and South America, explained that it currently takes about 20 to 30 days to certify a grower group. "You have to go to the community by car, bus, mule or on foot, and access is difficult during the rainy season, because a stream might swell and you can't get across," he said. In the best of times, inspectors visit four or five farms a day. (Perez said OCIA certifies about 300 grower groups in the region, which average about 400 members each -- or more than 100,000 farmers.)

"We think it will now take up to a year to certify an entire group -- that's our calculation," Perez explained. And because OCIA charges $150 to $270 per day of inspection, the farmers' financial burden will increase dramatically. For small coffee and cocoa growers who earn about $2,000 a year, that burden may become too heavy; to survive, some will be forced to drop organic certification.

[meldroc]

26. Yep, corporate friendly.

In other words, remove obstacles which are a pain for the big monster-conglomerates like Monsanto, and put obstacles in place for the little guys like third-world farmers.

How dare we challenge the corporate kleptocracy!

[robinlynne]

36. got it. I imagine that soon there will be an independent group with it's own organic seal.

more reliable than the government, whose label we can trust.

[robinlynne]

5. This is very strange. An article which says nothing linked ot another which says nothing

and full of recs?

[druidity33]

15. says nothing? How so? nt

[Czolgosz]

7. There is no sin too venal for these bastards to forbear from ruining even our smallest pleasures for

greedy corporate ends.

[MadHound]

14. Another way that the certified organic is being used to beat up the small farmer/operator

Thus clearing the competition for the large corporate farmers, and in the process insuring that we all get an inferior product. This has been going on with other areas of "organic" products for a few years now. Organic is quickly becoming just another brand name.

Perhaps the coffee farmers will become certified naturally grown instead?<http://www.naturallygrown.org/>

[hippywife]

39. True.

I'm seeing the word "Organic" on a lot of corporate produced products like Libby's canned veggies, etc.

I ain't buying it for a moment. They've all popped up here all of a sudden really recently.

I do support the purchase of fair trade coffee and other items. I know what that money is going to support because I know the people who are importing it directly.

[HamdenRice]

16. The goal is to force this coffee back into traditional commodities chanels

This reminds me of one of the awful things that the Clinton administration did for its DLC corporate cronies. The food industry was experimenting with irradiated meat, GM foods and other frankenfoods.

Consumers didn't want to buy it. Whether you think these foods or dangerous or not, certainly consumers should have the right to decide for themselves, just as with any other purchase.

So the Clinton administration wanted to ban certain producers from putting on their labels that their food was not irradiated or not GM. That way, consumers could not express their preference.

This coffee proposal would not ban organic food or small producers; but it would prevent them from making an end run around the commodities markets. In other words, coffee is purchased in bulk by giant trading companies that purchase cheap in Latin America and Africa, import into the US, sell high, and take most of the profits.

The small/organic movement was an end run around that system. Consumers wanted organic artisanal coffee. Small companies and coops would buy it and import it and separately label it.

By making it impossible to label it organic, consumers will be unable separately to identify it. The small/organic farmers will be forced back into the big commodities markets where their coffee will be indistinguishable.

[cascadiance]

22. I guess I will value "fair trade" certified coffee now more than certified "organic"...

Is Transfair concerned on how perhaps it might have to absorb the role to do it's own form of "organic" certification in addition to its "fair trade" certification to provide a more "realistic" and useful "organic" label than the increasingly corporate controlled USDA is moving towards?

[NashVegas]

23. I Wonder If Private Distributors Would/Could Pick Up the Cost?

IIRC, Green Mountain Roasters were selling fair trade coffee way before USDA certification came along. They had to get their certs from somewhere ...

[gollygee]

29. I thought the FDA was going to relax the rules about organic food until it wasn't really organic?

I'm sure I read that because I was alarmed by it as I buy organic food. So now I'm reading that they're making organic standards more stringent? I don't get it.

[meldroc]

32. Welcome to corpoocracy.

The rules are designed to be friendly to big business, hostile to small business. After all, the big businesses wouldn't want upstart small businesses to encroach on their profits...

[gollygee]

34. So how is this working?

they're making the rules more relaxed in some areas, and stricter in others? I have no doubt whatsoever the motive behind it is to help corporations because that's all our government does.

[Javaman]

42. I drink tea. nt

[Spiffarino]

49. What delicious irony. n/t

[Straight Shooter]

53. Organic is something I want; but fair trade is something I insist upon.

Really tired of The Powers That Be f*cking over anyone and everyone, with ridiculous rationalizations for it, when we all know it comes down to the bottom line. $$$$$.

I will pay more, and drink less coffee, I suppose.

[Coexist]

56. I agree - I prefer shade-grown organic, but fair trade is a must.

n/t