'From the Plantation to the Cup'

A cup of coffee is a normal and pervasive function of modern daily life. The practise of going to a generic international coffee house is a ritual for many, there is a comfort perhaps in being able to get the same latte in Dublin or in Dubai. There has been much contention about the ethics of coffee plantations and how we receive the end product. In this assignment I shall consider how coffee is produced, distributed and consumed. Coffee is grown mostly on mountain terrains, in tropical and sub-tropical regions. There are approximately around 70 countries across the globe that produces coffee, Brazil being the leader with 28 percent of the market share. Coffee is a highly traded commodity and is an important source of employment in the developing world. Yet while the production takes place in Latin America or the Caribbean, the main consumers are the west, namely the U.S, followed by Europe.

Within the network of coffee production, the nodes can be identified as the workers who pick and harvest the beans, they are indigenous labourer workers, who’s pay is insignificant in relation to the multi billion dollar industry. The Nodes extend to the intermediary components such as the coffee roasters, and to the packing, transportation, exporting, importing and eventual marketing and sales operations. What ties the international cooperation to the farmer is the modes of distribution between them such as the roasters. The roasters are important players in the flow between production and consumption of coffee. Roasters often operate in or rely heavily on the importing country and make the highest profit margins. Large roasters normally sell pre-packaged coffee to large retailers, such as Maxwell House. The coffee is then sold to supermarkets, and coffee shops. Coffee is also sold on the commodity market by speculators and investment firms. The ties are driven by profit, in that the planter is tied to roaster, they both work on the same product, offering different services in the aim of profit. The flow of the production is distributed via the operation that buys from the roaster. Then distributor marks up the price and sells to supermarkets or coffee houses, which in turn is sold to us.

The ethical debate has stemmed from the mistreatment of the planters; in that they received a smaller proportional return in the selling of their crop in comparison to the returns of the larger elements or nodes such as the roasters. In the network of coffee production, distribution and consumption the average consumer pays very little head to how they have come to their coffee. The fair trade movement has sought to bring greater equality into the flow of international trade. The plight of the exploited planter has been highlight in the media and technology such as the web has allowed for a great public awareness as to where there coffee has come from.

Each age is defined by an underlying spirit; Barney asserts in his thesis statement that ‘the spirit of our age is the spirit of the network’ (Barney, 2004). He finds that the network society pervades the individual, social, economic and political climate, and this to Barney grades the network societies place in history. Van Dijik reveals how many critics have described this epoch as ‘web society’ where the world is connected on more planes than ever before, the psychical space and time constraints have been broken, yet contrary to this we seem to use the web to define ourselves and evoke as sense of individualism on a common platform. The new media has a potent effect on society globally, and in understanding the consequences of this potent new media it would be prudent to explore its characteristics of integration, interactivity and digital code as Van Dijik sees it. Integration is of great importance to the structure of new media as combines telecommunications, data communication and mass communication in one strand. Van Dijik explains this to be a convergence and thus the new media can be called a multimedia. Integration exists in a variety of strata; infrastructure, transport, management, services and types of data. Integration has allowed for digitalization of new media through the use of digital code.
Second to integration is the characteristic of interactive media. This pertains to a ‘sequence of action and reaction’ (Dijik, 2006). Interactivity is based on a time and space dimensions. New media has allowed for a significant shift the time and space paradigm. The concept of online on the web allows for a continuous stream of time and space, which defies the older conventions of having a fixed space or time for a given medium. Van Dijik raises a valid point; digital media is more interactive than traditional media, and the user could potentially be empowered to influence the content they consume, however Van Dijik suggests that this power has yet to be fully exploited by the media consumer. Another element of interactivity is the mental dimension which relies on the context and value of the relations between users.
Digital code is the third characteristic of new media and is associated with transmission of binary code made up of a series of 0’s and 1’s. Digital code has replaced analogue. Digital code allows for standardization and thus content is produced, disturbed and consumed with greater ease. The characteristics of integration, interactivity and digital code are not isolated elements but rather they exist and operate in chorus. In short Castells summates the attributes of a network society: ‘the network society is made up of production, power, and experience, which construct a culture of virtuality in the global flows that transcend time and space.’ (Castells, p. 1998:370)

Sources
Barney,D. (2004) The Network society.
Castells, M. (2004) ‘Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint in The Network Society’.
Van Dijik, J.(2006) The Network Society .