Frans van der Hoff, or Francisco VanderHoff Boersma as he is called in Latin America, is a Dutchmissionary who, in collaboration with Nico Roozen and ecumenicaldevelopment agencySolidaridad, launched Max Havelaar, the first Fairtrade label in 1988. Van der Hoff's contacts with Mexican coffee producers were important in securing the supply and ensuring the success of the very first Fairtrade certification initiative. Van der Hoff was born as the seventh of seventeen children to a disciplined farming family, van der Hoff-Boersma, that had moved from Friesland to the villageDe Rips in the southern Netherlands. He became politically active early on in student movements during his studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. He later received a Ph.D. in political economy and another in theology while studying in Germany. In 1970, van der Hoff moved to Santiago de Chile to work in the barrios as a worker-priest. During the 1973 coup, he moved to Mexico to continue his work in the slums of Mexico City. Seven years later, he moved to Oaxaca in the Southern part of Mexico. In 1981, he participated in UCIRI's launch, a coffeeproducer cooperative created to bypass local traders and pool resources. In 1985, van der Hoff met Roozen at the Utrechttrain station through a mutual friend. Roozen, who was then responsible for business development at ecumenical development agency Solidaridad, quickly became interested in van der Hoff's work. On November 15, 1988, the two started the first Fairtrade labelling initiative, Max Havelaar. The initiative offered disadvantaged coffee producers following various social and environmental standards a fair price—significantly above the market price—for their crop. The coffee, originating from the UCIRI cooperative, was imported by Dutch company Van Weely, roasted by Neuteboom, and then sold directly to world shops and retailers across the Netherlands. The initiative was a great success and was replicated in several other markets. In 2006, Fairtrade-certified sales amounted to approximately €1.6 billion worldwide and over 569 producer organizations, representing roughly over 1.5 million producers, in 58 developing countries were Fairtrade certified.
