During my work as a marketing specialist for Starbucks, is when I first developed a passion for coffee. “To communicate well about a product, you have to know it backwards and forwards; from bean to cup; how it’s grown, how it’s processed, how it’s roasted and how to drink it. The care and the many hands that touch them, make each coffee bean precious.”

In coordinating the marketing launch of Fairtrade espresso in Starbucks stores across Europe I worked closely with the Dutch Fairtrade organization and later joined their communications team. I felt this passion growing inside to create a better life for farmers at the beginning of the coffee chain, the people responsible for the millions of cups of coffee we drink daily around the world. “Fairtrade supports farmers in developing countries for many different products, from bananas to tea, flowers, rice, spices, cotton and more, but my focus and specialties are coffee and cocoa. 90% of cocoa and 80% of coffee in the world come from small-scale farmers. And someone needs to speak up for the underdog in a world where big business and the ‘bottom line’ rules the market. I’m no more extraordinary than the woman sitting beside me on my daily train commute. But together, we can make a dent, and with everyone on the train, we can make a difference in the way the business world works.”

My work at Fairtrade has taken me to several countries in Africa, recently Kenya for a project devoted to supporting coffee farmers in adapting to the changing climate. “Our vision is a world in which farmers earn a decent income for their product and are no longer exploited by northern markets. Unfortunately, the world market price for coffee has dropped lower than ever in the past 13 years and farmers are no longer able to cover basic living costs, much less the rising costs of inputs for their farms or costs for adapting to the impacts of climate change.” Coffee farmers are widely affected now by climate change, whether it is subtle differences like the increasing temperature, affecting crop quality and inviting new diseases, or devastating weather occurrences like the increasing number of droughts or floods worldwide. Research by GIZ (the German Society for International Cooperation) estimates that 30 million farmers worldwide will be affected in the coming years with a 90% income reduction. Another research study by the Climate Institute predicts that the area fit for cultivating coffee will decrease 50% by 2050 due to climate change.

I’ve been working on the Climate Academy project (funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottey) since 2017, to help coffee farmers establish a proactive plan to combat climate change. The project supports 20.000 coffee farmers in Kenya and Ethiopia and includes a rollout of sustainable agricultural trainings, nurseries to support more resistant coffee plants & shade trees, projects for more energy efficiency and projects for alternative income methods to reduce the dependency on one crop.

Being there with the coffee farmers in local Kenyan villages, I’m transported back in history. Even though they are only a half day’s drive from the throbbing, modern heartbeat of Nairobi, there are stark differences in the level of technology and access to simple, modern conveniences. There is no running water, they cook on open fires in a small dark room, they farm the land by hand without tractors and machines, they eat what they grow themselves or can barter. The livestock that some lucky people may have is precious; cows are for milk, chickens for eggs. They eat meat (chicken or goat) maybe once a month. The bathroom is a poorly constructed hut covering a hole in the ground. They walk from 15 minutes up to an hour just to collect water for cooking and washing. It sounds rough when I write it. And yet there is a simplicity and acceptance and beauty to be found. The families I visit are also curious and open. The women share their stories but want to hear mine as well. Our lives are so foreign to each other, but in that moment, we can find similarities in our children, in our likes and dislikes. We link arms with each other and smile and share a moment. I want to hold on those moments, and I want to share their stories.

Their needs are so simple, but the path forward is complex. They need to save their crops from the rising temperatures and changing rain patterns. The coffee plants need better pruning, fertilizers, more shade trees, access to irrigation and water storage. They need to plant the newer, more resistant coffee plants. But all these things cost money they don’t have. The prices they received for their last harvest are almost half what they were the year before. It costs them more to farm coffee than they can earn. While in America and Europe, we easily order a latte priced at more than $4.00.

If companies would require their buyers to only buy coffee that certifies that farmers are at least paid a sustainable production price, they could ensure they are helping the people behind their products and guarantee that coffee is around for future generations. If we, as consumers, all commit to only buying coffee sourced on fairly traded terms, then we can help coffee farmers turn the tide and survive climate change as well.