[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H1691-H1692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        COLOMBIAN COFFEE CRISIS

  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, to most Americans coffee is nothing more 
than a morning pick-me-up, a drink over which to socialize, or an 
excuse to reacquaint ourselves with old friends or even to make new 
ones. But to Latin America, our neighbors down there, coffee is a way 
of life, a key to survival, and a hope for the future.
  As many of my colleagues may know, coffee prices are at a record low. 
Latin American families who once made a good living at farming coffee 
are now being forced to leave the farm to find other work. Oftentimes, 
that means risking life and limb to emigrate to the United States or to 
engage in the illegal production and trafficking of narcotics just to 
survive.
  As a businessman, I fully comprehend the ebbs and flows of commodity 
trading and the effects that oversupply can have on a market. But there 
is much more to the current coffee situation than profit margins. Latin 
Americans produce the highest-quality coffee anywhere in the world, but 
they cannot make a living from it. Without immediate action, the 
consequences will be felt well beyond the coffee fields.
  It is important to remember that democracy is still young and fragile 
in Latin America. Growing poverty and an increasing lack of real 
economic opportunities are now threatening the very democracy that 
thousands of Latin Americans have risked, and sometimes lost, their 
lives to establish. Over the years, I have worked with Latin leaders to 
promote economic opportunities that would strengthen new democracies 
and improve the lives of their citizens. The production of real quality 
coffee, for instance, once brought unheard of prosperity to many of the 
communities in Central and South America. But with the price of quality 
coffee falling to historic lows, the flood of lesser- and cheaper-
quality coffee entering the global market, these very communities are 
now left destitute and questioning the benefits of democracy.
  Last July, the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, which I chair, 
held a hearing on what some have termed the ``coffee crisis.'' Some may 
refute the premise that there is such a crisis. The abandoned coffee 
plantations of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Colombia, and elsewhere, coupled 
with the thousands of people who are now out of work, tell a different 
story. There is a crisis.
  During the hearing, witnesses testified that the trade in coffee is 
negatively affecting the local, national, and regional economies of our 
hemisphere. The overproduction of coffee is the result of unrestricted 
imports from places like Vietnam, where coffee is not a traditional 
crop and the farmers are heavily subsidized by the communist 
government. In a span of just a few years, Vietnam has emerged as the 
second leading exporter of coffee in the world. This oversupply has 
driven coffee prices to their lowest level in 30 years, to just a 
fraction of what they were a few years ago.
  As a result of this hearing, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr) 
and I cosponsored House Resolution 604, along with eight other Members 
of Congress. The resolution simply expresses the sense of the House 
that the United States should adopt a global strategy with coordinated 
activities in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to address the short-term 
humanitarian needs and long-term rural development needs of countries 
affected by the collapse of coffee prices. It encourages the President 
to explore measures to support and complement multilateral efforts to 
respond to the global coffee crisis. But more importantly, it urges the 
private sector coffee buyers and roasters to work with the United 
States to seek their own solution to the crisis which is economically, 
socially, and environmentally sustainable.
  Numerous foreign firms are already helping farmers move away from 
drug production and improve the local economies. A French grocery 
company, CarreFour, entered into a contract with the Colombian organic 
and specialty coffee farmers to buy their coffee at slightly higher 
prices to be marketed in CarreFour stores. While I am not prone to say 
anything really nice about the French, especially recently, this is the 
type of corporate citizenship

[[Page H1692]]

that should be emulated. This simple act of corporate citizenship is 
providing coffee consumers the best coffee available while giving the 
farmers and their families a way to earn a living without having to 
produce drugs. I also understand that Starbucks and Green Mountain 
engage in outreach programs for the Latin coffee farmers that allow 
them to purchase quality coffees for their shops.
  In conclusion, if we stand by and allow the crisis to worsen, we are 
committing ourselves to more drastic action in the medium to long term 
when the crisis will have spiraled to our further detriment. As the 
crisis deepens, so do the problems at the U.S. border, such as massive 
migration and the inflow of more illegal drugs like cocaine and heroin. 
Although there are efforts under way to address this problem, more 
action must be taken. I encourage my colleagues to join me in solving 
this crisis.

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