The label boasts that the coffee is fair trade certified and organic, as is the rest of the coffee served on campus.
The school’s cafeteria and coffee kiosk are run by High Desert Management, and all of the brewed coffee served is made by Strictly Organic, a local coffee shop and roaster that serves fair trade and organic coffee.
Some critics say that direct trade is a better deal for the farmers.
“It makes me feel like a better person when I drink fair trade coffee,” Trautman said. “Coffee farmers in developing countries live in poverty, and it’s so sad. When I see the label [of certification], I know that no one was taken advantage of just so I can have coffee that’s 10 cents cheaper.”
According to the TransFair Web site, fair trade empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by guaranteeing minimum floor prices and social premiums.
It also enables coffee producers to invest in their farms and communities and protect the environment.
While the circumstances of coffee farmers around the world varies greatly, most are paid the equivalent of sweatshop wages and suffer poor working conditions, according to the Web site, Global Exchange, an international human rights organization.
“Growers get the smallest sliver of the profit pie,” said COCC economics professor, Tom Carroll.
The majority goes to middlemen and importers who pay farmers unfair prices for their goods.
Ricky Jones, the wholesale manager of Strictly Organic, compared the working conditions of farmers in other countries without the protection of fair trade to cotton production in America’s south in the 1800’s, calling it “a form of enslavement.”
“Big corporations came into plantations and co-ops and muscled the cost of coffee to less than it cost to produce it,” said Jones. “Labor has been abused for so long.”
All of the Strictly Organic coffee served on campus is fair trade certified, which in general makes it more expensive to the consumer.
Students don’t seem to mind, according to Elaine Jasper, a COCC student who works at Java Jam Espresso.
She said that she has never had any complaints about the high price, or questions about the fair trade label.
Jasper also estimates that over 60 percent of the customers regularly order coffee.
The fair trade system has been criticized by some as not being fair enough.
Direct trade is a method used by local coffee shop,Thump and by Strictly Organic. It is the process of going straight to the farmer for coffee, with no middlemen.
Thump and Strictly Organic both pay above fair trade minimum prices for the coffee they purchase using direct trade.
There is also no monitoring by a third party, so small farmers can be taken advantage of.
Jones said that while direct trade can be fairer to the farmer but that it depends on the buyers.
The owners of Strictly Organic are currently in Bend’s sister city of Condega, Nicaragua, buying coffee from the small producers and working to better that community.
Jones admitted that he has gotten some flack from other coffee shop owners that Strictly Organic doesn’t use all direct trade.
He defends the fair trade system, however, by stressing the transparency it requires.
According to Jones transparency means that all of the company’s records of buying coffee are available to anyone who asks.
“Even though there are faults, if there is 100 percent transparency … it’s really hard to abuse the system,” Jones said.
Student Abby Trautman said she cares about the workers and looks for the fair trade label, but it’s not a priority.
“The whole fair trade thing is confusing and honestly, I just don’t care enough to go out of my way to get it,” said Trautman.
“Honestly, I think it’s great that it’s served on campus, but if there was a Starbucks closer, I’d just get that.”
Contact this reporter at loashleymiller@yahoo.com