Fairtrade Worldwide is planning a sweeping overhaul of the requirements that govern Fairtrade-certified espresso and different crops.

The multi-year challenge will possible reshape how tens of millions of farmers, employees and consumers have interaction with the system, which is designed to help smallholder farmer livelihoods via moral consumerism.

The Germany-based nonprofit says it’s revising all generic requirements — for small-scale producer organizations, hired-labor organizations and merchants — together with product requirements for agricultural commodities, together with espresso.

The brand new “developed” requirements are slated for publication in 2027, with certification in opposition to them anticipated to start by 2028, following a full public session in 2026.

“We all know the world is shifting, we see the strain farmers and firms are beneath, and we might be there supporting them with developed requirements that meet their sensible wants in addition to the necessities for a commerce system that’s truthful and simply,” Fairtrade Worldwide Interim CEO Marike Runneboom de Peña stated in an announcement shared with DCN.

Every day Espresso Information photograph by Nick Brown.

The requirements course of will contain Fairtrade’s three regional producer networks (Latin America, Africa/Center East and Asia), its 25 nationwide advertising organizations and Flocert, the impartial certifier of Fairtrade.

Espresso in Fairtrade

Espresso is one in all Fairtrade’s unique and largest merchandise. Earlier this 12 months, the group reported that producer organizations harvested about 578,000 metric tons of Fairtrade espresso in 2023, with almost 775,000 espresso farmers within the system. Roughly half of that quantity was additionally organic-certified. In 2023, producer cooperatives took in €82.4 million ($95.4 million) in Fairtrade premiums.

Nevertheless, solely a part of the licensed quantity is bought with the Fairtrade minimal worth and premium connected. The 2025 report famous that licensed cooperatives bought, on common, 35% of their espresso on Fairtrade phrases in 2023.

Fairtrade’s requirements overhaul comes as different coffee-focused schemes have up to date their very own frameworks to satisfy altering market and regulatory circumstances.

The Rainforest Alliance launched a unified 2020 Certification Program after merging with UTZ, with a revision that adopted this 12 months. The World Espresso Platform in 2021 launched a brand new Espresso Sustainability Reference Code as a shared baseline for sustainable espresso manufacturing.

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