C Market and other issues

When large brands announce that they’re sourcing organic honey, or highlighting fair-trade or “ethically sourced” coffee, it feels like a win.  And in a narrow sense, it is. When companies this large move, they create demand that didn’t exist before. They normalize their standards, instantly build infrastructure, and make ideas like “organic” or “fair trade” part of everyday consumer language. That’s not nothing.

JDE Peet’s a large multi-national coffee company, recently unveiled its Nature Transition Plan, Grounded in Nature, “a science-based roadmap to protect ecosystems, strengthen farmer resilience, and secure the long-term viability of coffee production.” The plan targets deforestation-free coffee beyond EU compliance minimums (if that ever relly gets off the ground) expanded regenerative farming across 200,000 additional hectares by 2030, and 100 percent “responsibly” sourced green coffee by 2028.  This all sounds amazing.  Something I can get behind.  I hope it works in practice, not just social media clicks.  I sincerely wish them luck.

That impact could be real, and it shouldn’t be dismissed. But the story often times stops there, and that’s where it becomes murky and just a bunch of PR bullshit because it implies small producers will get a seat at the table.  

Supplying a big global brand requires volume, consistency, uniformity, and reliability. Those requirements quietly reshape who can participate. Small farmers often can’t meet them alone, and even when they can, the pressure is intense. Scaling production introduces debt, monocropping, climate vulnerability and the tempatation for short cuts. Certifications don’t change that reality. Organic doesn’t mean small-scale, and fair trade doesn’t automatically mean equitable. Large, well-capitalized farms are simply better positioned to absorb the costs, audits, paperwork, and risk that certifications require, so when demand for “ethical” products rises, a disproportionate share of the benefit flows to them. What looks like opportunity and empowerment can easily become consolidation of power and resources.  For some, doors are opened and other doors are closed to those that can’t keep up with cash and resources.