Sparty's Convenience Stores' coffee is now fair - to the last drop.
Campus and local coffee shops now provide fair trade coffee due to consumer demand.
Fair trade is an agreement between producer and purchaser that at least a minimum price per pound will be paid for certain goods. The agreement provides farmers and workers in less-developed nations an opportunity to make a living wage, said Laura DeLind, faculty advisor for The Real Food Group and senior academic specialist in the Department of Anthropology.
Residence halls will serve fair trade coffee in the fall and all Sparty's coffeehouse locations have sold the coffee since March 2004. Most of the fair trade coffee that comes to the university is purchased from Rwanda, DeLind said.
"We're the first on campus to support fair trade coffee," Sparty's Service Manager Joe Garza said. "This was brought to our attention by some of our students."
MSU's project Partnership to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages, or PEARL, used agricultural resources from the university to help increase and advance coffee growth in Rwanda. Through the partnership, Rwandan farmers were able to sell their crops to the university, said Nashwa Khogali-Watson, operation supervisor for the Sparty coffeehouses.
Khogali-Watson said Sparty's premiered their fair trade espresso this August, which is used in all blended drinks.
"Anything we serve in the espresso-based products is fair trade," she said. "Our goal is to have the highest quality. The side advantage is we're helping farmers as well."
Although Rwanda is a main source, Khogali-Watson said there are other varieties of fair trade coffee available at Sparty's.
Giving these small-time farms a chance against large corporations and plantations not only benefit the farmers but the local area as well, DeLind said.
"The idea is the fair trade coffee is designed in such a way that the farmer, from wherever, can realize a certain wage," DeLind said. "The consequence (if they don't) is they can't support their families, and they lose their land and they may move to the cities and local social institutions diminish."
Fair trade coffee also helps the environment, Khogali-Watson said. The coffee is 'shade grown,' which doesn't require cutting trees down to grow crops.
"We're not cutting down trees so all the animal habitats remain intact and slows global warming," she said. "It works well in the long term, not only for us locally, but the global community."
Coffee is not the only fair trade item available, DeLind said. Other products, including grapefruit, cocoa and bananas are available to consumers.
Espresso Royale, an Ann Arbor-based coffeehouse chain, is part of a cooperative that buys fair trade coffee out of Mexico.
"We've actually had some of our employees go there," said Paul Hobson, store manager of Espresso Royale, 527 E. Grand River Ave. "Just to go there, take pictures, meet the farmers and the bean pickers."
Hobson said they carry fair trade coffee and it doesn't cost customers more.
"It's just something the coffee shops do because there is a demand," he said. "It ensures the people who are actually farming the beans and picking the beans are getting the money."
The Beaner's Gourmet Coffee chain provides a French roast coffee that is both fair trade and organic.
Khogali-Watson said customers who have commented on the coffee are pleased with the taste and quality.
Zach Knowlton, MSU alumnus and Espresso Royale customer, sampled the fair trade coffee and said he didn't notice a difference in taste or price.
"Supposedly it helps the coffee farmers," he said. "If it gives them a better price for their products or coffee, I'm willing to support that."
