Frans van der Hoff

Frans van der Hoff (born 13 July 1939), or Francisco VanderHoff Boersma as he is called in Latin America, is a Dutch missionary who, in collaboration with Nico Roozen and ecumenical development agency Solidaridad, launched Max Havelaar, the first Fairtrade label in 1988. Frans van der Hoff's contacts with disadvantaged Mexican coffee producers were key in securing the supply and ensuring the success of the very first Fairtrade certification initiative.

Frans van der Hoff was born as the 7th of 17th children of a disciplined farming family Van der Hoff-Boersma that had moved from Friesland to the village De Rips in the souther 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 one 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, van der Hoff 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. As a worker-priest, he quickly integrated the community and started to learn about the misery and economic hardship of local coffee producers. In 1981, he participates in the launch of UCIRI (Union de Comunidades Indigenas de la Region del Istmo), a coffee producer cooperative created to bypass local traders (also called coyotes) and pool resources.

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