Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Shortly thereafter, coffee roasters in the United States formed a na-
tional organization to self-regulate coffee quality as part of an effort to
capture market share from neighborhood grocers who sold green beans
and/or roasted coffee to order for retail customers. In fact, the movement
for national standards for processed foods and drugs enjoyed the support
of many large food manufacturers who found it easier to comply with
regulations than their smaller competitors.
35
After several years marked
by tensions between New York-based importers and Midwest roasters, in
1928 the two groups established the National Coffee Association (NCA),
an organization dedicated primarily to marketing and lobbying activi-
ties. NCA members were important players in the negotiations among
the U.S. government and the governments of coffee-producing nations in
Latin America that led to the signing of the Inter-American Coffee Agree-
ment (1940-1948) and the International Coffee Agreement (1962-1989).
DriveninpartbythegeopoliticalpreoccupationsoftheUnitedStatesdur-
ing World War II and the Cold War, the agreements sought to stabilize
prices and standardize quality through quota systems. By 1962, the NCA
was dominated by corporate roasters (including General Foods and Fol-
gers)whocontrolledalargeportionoftheU.S.marketforgroundcoffees.
The integration of the coffee trade, then, was a complicated process that
occurred some three to fourdecades after the consolidation of the banana
and sugar industries.
36
In California, fruit growers faced a dilemma similar to that of banana
growers when dealing with buyers.This is not surprising considering that
deciduous fruits, like their tropical counterparts, were fleeting commodi-
ties that accrued and lost their market price in a matter of days. In order
to gain leverage over distant brokers and wholesalers, California growers
formed large cooperatives that, among other things, developed standards
and grades for their produce. In 1917, the California Fruit Growers' Ex-
change successfully lobbied the California state legislature to pass the
Fresh Fruit, Nut, and Vegetable Standardization Act. Shortly thereafter,
the United States Department of Agriculture established standards for
fresh produce in order to resolve disputes between buyers and sellers. As
was the case with bananas, size and visual appearance tended to be key
characteristicsforfreshfruits:Sunkistorangeswerewashed,dried,waxed,
and polished prior to being sorted into categories such as ''Extra-fancy,''
''Fancy,'' and Choice.''
37
Historiansarejustbeginningtoconsiderthesignificanceofstandard-
ization for the history of commodities. Nevertheless, a comparison of ba-
nanas,coffee,sugar,andCaliforniafruitspermitstheformulationofsome
