National Federation of Coffee Growers

The National Federation of Coffee Growers (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros—Fedecafé) is an organization that seeks to represent domestic producers and sellers of coffee, Colombia's primary export commodity. It was founded in 1927 by prominent landowners and politicians who have played a vital role in the development of the Colombian coffee industry. Supported by a government tax on coffee exports, Fedecafé has stimulated coffee productivity by disseminating information on modern farming methods, improving marketing, and promoting trade policies to make Colombia's crop competitive worldwide. Despite its claim to speak for both small and big growers, the federation has mainly represented Colombia's largest coffee interests, including some of the oldest and wealthiest landowning families in the country. Its leadership has included members of the political elite, such as Mariano Ospina Pérez, who served as the federation's first president (1927–1934) before becoming president of Colombia. This connection explains the federation's quasi-governmental influence not only on the coffee industry but on national economic policies as well.

See alsoOspina Pérez, Mariano .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bennett E. Koffman, "The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia" (Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia, 1969).

Marco Palacios, Coffee in Colombia, 1850–1970: An Economic, Social, and Political History (1980).

Additional Bibliography

Gómez Jaramillo, Arturo, Otto Morales Benítez, and Diego Pizano Salazar. Arturo Gómez Jaramillo, zar del cafe. Bogotá: Fondo Cultural Cafetero, 2003.

Ramírez Bacca, Renzo. Formación y transformación de la cultura laboral cafetera en el siglo XX. Medellín: Carreta Editores, 2004.

                                        Pamela Murray