Interviews

Jorge Cárdenas Gutiérrez is a pioneer of the Colombian coffee sector, having played key roles at the country’s National Federation of Coffee Growers (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia or FNC) for four decades. Established in 1927, the FNC is recognized as one of biggest and oldest rural NGO’s, and it has served as an example for other agricultural sectors in Colombia. Cárdenas begins the interview by discussing his education and early career in Medellin, where he obtained a law degree from the Universidad de Antioquia before practicing as an attorney for one year. He subsequently moved to the United States, obtaining a Master’s degree in Public Administration, Public Finance and Public Policies from Syracuse University in 1958. After completing his Master’s, Cárdenas returned to Colombia and worked in both public and private sector roles. In 1963, he joined the FNC and served as the organization’s Assistant Manager for 20 years before his appointment as General Manager from 1983 until 2002.

Cárdenas proceeds in the interview by tracing the history of the FNC, explaining how the coffee organization has earned a reputation for its stable regulations and good internal governance. He suggests that these have allowed the organization to serve as a role model for coffee growers’ associations around the world. Whereas most other coffee growers’ associations are government-run or privately-owned, the FNC has developed an effective public-private partnership in Colombia. Cárdenas attributes the partnership’s success to two main principles. Firstly, he outlines how the FNC deliberately decided to stay out of party politics, engaging with different political currents and affiliations since the start. Secondly, the organization set up a strong financial foundation through the establishment of the National Coffee Fund in the 1940’s, paid for through taxes on exports from coffee growers and government loans. Coffee growers in turn managed the fund through the FNC.

According to Cárdenas, cooperation with other major coffee producing countries such as Brazil played a significant role in the growth of Colombia’s coffee sector. Following World War II, increases in coffee consumption and rising prices led to a period of prosperity. This period also, however, saw the entrance of production from Africa and Central America which caused a crisis in 1956-1957 due to an oversupply of coffee. Cárdenas explains how Colombia led the effort to bring together Brazil, Mexico and other Latin American coffee producers to sign an agreement that would coordinate policies. Known as the Mexico Agreement, these policies remained in place until the establishment of the first International Coffee Agreement in 1962. The much broader agreement included coffee producers and consumers from around the world, setting price ranges and a quota system for the sale of coffee based on market behaviors. Cárdenas relates that “[coffee] producers supported the International Agreement from the beginning. They knew that stable prices were the most important thing for them, as they allowed for planning whether to plant coffee or refrain from doing so.”

The International Coffee Agreement was renewed several times in the 1960’s and 1970’s, but reached a crisis point in the late 1980’s. Cárdenas explains how during this period, Brazil was recovering from a severe frost in 1975 that had damaged its largest coffee-producing areas and reduced its previous quota. He discusses his role in the complex negotiations that ensued between countries, given that Brazil wanted to return to its previous quota status while other countries that had since boosted their coffee production with new technologies also wanted larger quotas. Whereas coffee producing countries ended up adhering to an agreement, Cárdenas suggests that this failed in 1989, mainly on the coffee consumption side as new markets such as Japan and South Korea, as well as countries in eastern Europe, had not been included.

Following a structural crisis in coffee-based economies that continued into the 1990’s and 2000’s, Cárdenas discusses his diversification efforts with Colombian coffee producers. With support from the National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafé), the FNC promoted growth of optimal crops for each area, discouraging coffee production in places not suited for it. Cenicafé also conducted research into practices that would avoid environmental degradation and conserve water. While he explains that the FNC had always paid close attention to research that would help preserve forests and conserve water, he provides a specific example of a new coffee dry-processing system patented by the FNC in the 2000’s which significantly reduced the industry’s water usage.

To conclude the interview, Cárdenas reflects on the importance of reputation and contends that “the FNC’s reliability is a result of everyone’s efforts within the organization and is deeply embedded in our culture.” He emphasizes the importance of transparency both as an organization and as a leader himself, stressing that “my approach has always been to trust the team, delegate, be open to dialogue, and work closely with other people.” Furthermore, he describes how the FNC’s status as one of Colombia’s most financially robust organizations has allowed it to have wide-reaching social and cultural impacts in ways that go far beyond coffee alone.

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