Do you buy organic coffee?

2 Comments

  • Darryl - 14 years ago

    It doesn’t surprise me to see cynical comments about organic labeling. My post is pro-certification/pro-organic. I've traveled on coffee business to coffee farms that are certified organic coffee farms, non-certified "sustainable" farms, “organico in transición”, and conventional coffee farms. On one trip I saw a panel truck driving up the hill to service a few dozen farmer’s needs with hundreds of large 100-pound plus bags of synthetic fertilizer. That type of visual changes things. I thought about all of that white powder stuff being used on the ground and then washing down the hill and finding its way into the water. I asked our local guide about the local streams and he said they were mostly dead in that area. Conventional coffee is not 100% to blame since there is just so much other stuff going on in these types of rural developing-country environments. My point is that for the 99.9% of people that do not 4x4 into a South American jungle to see their coffee grown—but they do have third party certification from OCIA (and then USDA/Wash State Dept of Ag certifies the roaster processor). By saying that third party certification is worthless is throwing out the baby with the bathwater and is a discredit to the professionals who work in the field. Consumers have demanded third party organic certification so that they can be reasonably confident that the organic label on their coffee, tofu, soymilk, eggs, chicken or whatever---is actually pesticide, gmo, herbicide, pesticide, synthetic fertilizer FREE.

    Recommended DVD watching for more on the subject:

    The Future of Food

    Food, Inc.

    Birdsong & Coffee: A Wake Up Call

    Best, Darryl

  • coffee person - 14 years ago

    geez, doesn't everyone know by now that in the coffee world, the whole organic certification process is a marketing scam? almost ALL the best coffees are grown on small farms...ORGANICALLY (with no certification) and in natural growing areas. why should they get certified???? it just leaves them with less money in the end. the best roasters by organic coffee (that's not certified) and they don't publicize it either way.

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