Kickapoo Coffee: Coffee Farmers Make Less Than 40 Years Ago
Kickapoo Coffee recently released a blog about the current state of wages for coffee farmers. Kickapoo Coffee co-owners Caleb Nicholes and TJ Semanchin said that, "One of the ways the market has failed farmers is that over the last 40 years, the average C [commodity futures] price has essentially remained static...Meaning that the average cost for a pound of green coffee in 1975, for instance, is the same that it is today-around $1.40 FOB (FOB or Free on Board is the price paid to farmer co-ops or in-country exporters, and is a common standard for approximating the farm-gate or final price to farmers)."
Kickapoo Coffee wants specialty-grade coffee and fair wages, according to the blog. The company has committed to paying a new minimum price guarantee of $2.75 FOB. This is currently the highest published minimum price, according to the co-owners, but it is also a step in the right direction.
