 | Brief introduction to
C.A.F.E. Practices | |
C.A.F.E. (= Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices is a private Standard established by the Starbucks Coffee Company. The scheme was developed by SCS (Scientific Certification Systems), which is the entity responsible for training and approving third party verifiers. Please see www.scscertified.com/csrpurchasing/starbucks.html for further information. CERES is an approved verifier for C.A.F.E. Practices.
There are some "Zero Tolerance" criteria (e.g. payment of minimum wage, no child labour, traceability), which MUST be complied in order to be part of the program. For the other criteria, however, the program establishes a quantitative scoring system. So even if you start with a low score, you can be part of the program, and then gradually improve your performance in the course of the following years.
Essential criteria of the standard:
1. Financial transparency
- Including traceability of the coffee back to the farmer
2. Social Responsibility
- Payment of minimum wage, compliance with national laws on overtime payment
- Freedom of association and collective bargaining
- Vacation and sick leave program
- No child labour, discrimination, forced labour
- Decent housing conditions for workers living onsite
- Access to education, medical care
- Safe pesticide handling
3. Environmental Leadership (Farm)
- Watercourse and water quality protection
- Controlling soil erosion
- Improving soil fertility
- Shade cover
- Wildlife conservation, natural conservation areas
- Ecological pest and disease management
- Management and monitoring practices
4. Environmental Leadership (Processing)
- Minimize water consumption (wet mill)
- Minimize water pollution
- Waste recycling
- Minimize energy use
Steps to C.A.F.E. Practices verification:
- Application to Starbucks Coffee Company, including submission of a coffee sample
- Application to a verifier approved by SCS
- Quotation, Contract with the verifier
- Pre-payment (50%)
- Self evaluation
- Onsite verification (all farms larger than 50 ha, all wet and dry mills have to be verified. From farms smaller than 50 ha, only sample needs to be verified)
- Report submitted to supplier for approval or comments
- Final payment to verifier
- Report submitted to Starbucks Coffee Company (Farmer Support Center)
- Final approval as "verified", "preferred" or "strategic supplier" by Starbucks
! | Please be aware that this is only a selection of essential requirements of the organic standards, meant as an introduction. The operator, of course, has to learn about and meet all requirements of the respective standard. |
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