Coffee in the jungle of environmental and social sustainability standards

Sustainability standards are flooding global agricultural markets. Such standards however, are not recent: standards for the exchange of grain and tropical products emerged in the 19th century. The objective of this article is to analyse, in a historical perspective, the implications of the transition from traditional standards to sustainability standards on the commoditization/de-commoditization process. We show how early standards and grades contributed to the construction of the category of products called primary commodities and how, after a short attempt at de-commoditization (with the early fair trade and organic standards), sustainability standards have tended towards re-commoditization.