Consumer Retorts: Fair Trade Coffee
Is fair trade coffee really fair to the farmer?
UPDATE: Join us for an expert-led reader forum April 13-17 on MotherJones.com around the question: Is organic and local so 2008?
CONSUMER RETORTS
Fair Trade Coffee
Is it really fair to the farmer?
fair trade coffee costs more because its farmers are paid more, right? Yes, a little. Fair trade pays farmers either the world market price, plus an extra 10 cents per pound—or, when the market price falls below a certain point, a minimum price. Between 2001 and 2007, the market price for a pound of Arabica never rose above $1.25, so the fair trade minimum wage of $1.20 per pound worked. But in recent years, the price reached $1.60, while fair trade upped its minimum only to $1.25. The raise resembles "an economy where everybody's paid $15 an hour and they raise the minimum wage from $4.50 to $5.50," said TransFair usa spokesman Anthony Marek. "It's like an insurance policy." But in practice, when the volatile prices of Arabica nose-dive, as they did in 2008 from $1.59 to $1.25, the superlow "insurance policy" of $1.25 leaves farmers in for a rude awakening.
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TRADE act
It's just not enough, Fair Trade. Do you know about the TRADE act? I got my understanding of it from a book I read recently - Thinking Big. I'll try to sum it up: it would provide congressional space to review trade deals that aren't working (what an idea!) - it would list components that should be included and excluded from U.S. trade agreements so as to protect the environment, workers, and communities. It would strengthen the role of Congress - allowing members to review and renegotiate existing trade agreements to ensure that they comply with sustainable development goals, and also empower Congress to require that all future trade agreements comply with its provision. Thoughts?
Is
Is http://www.motherjones.com/consumer-retorts correct, 'cause it keeps bringing me back to this one story?
I added a slash after it, but that did the same thing...
Mother Jones would roll over in her grave!
I'm surprised to see that you guys are missing the true point of Fair Trade coffee. Fair Trade organizes farmers into democratically run organizations. Fair Trade Certification assures that the money paid for Fair Trade reaches these organizations.
We could argue all day about who is making more, the Fair Trade farmer or the family owned farm employee (As one who works with coffee producers, I would argue the Fair Trade farmer). However, the discussion of this is complicated.
Much easier is to point out that Fair Trade is actually about empowerment and producers organizing themselves. By forming cooperatives they are building their own schools, hiring their own medical doctors, improving the diets of their children. Fair Trade is the only way some of these marginalized rural communities can build working municipalities. All of this is supported by consumer's purchasing decisions.
Please Mother Jones, take a little deeper look into what is actually happening on the ground for these farmers in regards to Fair Trade certification. I think you'll find a great story about the power of organized workers.
-E
We all must take it deeper
I have worked closely in Central America alongside Fair Trade coops and also estate landowners who are locked out of fair trade. In most cases it is the estate owners doing community projects and caring for their labor force. I think everyone ought to look deeper than just believing everything they read (or want to read) about how fair trade certified is doing so much good. I have asked farmers directly (dozens of different farmers), "how has fair trade helped you?" After they look around to see if there are any coop officials listening they say "It has not helped me at all. Yes the coop got a new truck, a new road or a clinic was built, but I still can not feed my family." Why do they say this? Because that is their reality regardless of what we think they should say or wish they would say. Why do we call this fair?!!! I think fair trade certified is doing a "little" good but it is NOT fair! Fair is when we accurately represent their product and pay them based on quality which is how we will sell it. Without the growers we have no product!
fair trade
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No, Fair Trade does NOT organise growers into cooperatives. Already existing cooperatives pay HUGE sums of money to get certified. Family farms and private estates can NEVER be certified, per FT policies. This cuts them out of the system unFAIRly. Next, not all coops are the benevolent democratic organisations held up as examples. No, many are run by local organisations with little commitment to the betterment of the neighbourhood. Fair Trade only guarantees the "extra money" goes to the cooperative, no accountability that is actually goes to the GROWERS, the man with his hands in the dirt. And finally, Fair Trade does NAUGHT to promote any increase in the quality of the coffee produced. It remains a system to prolong the inevitable demise of the marginally profitable producers who otherwise cannot compete in an open market. On the other hand, I deal with MANY small family farms and private estates which provide standards of living far beyond the norm, and who are dedicated to producing the best quality coffees on the planet. Sure, there are "poster producers" in the Fair Trade system, but in the main the open market exceeds their lower standards by a wide margin. I do believe that, were the overhead of the Fair Trade system removed, allowing those funds to go direct to the growers, they would be far better off. Fair Trade as an organisation has not ever been forthcoming about their actual financial details, allocation of all the money THEY get, and so forth. Money which the growers do not. Reward the man with his hands in the dirt, and let the managers of the system go find productive work themselves.
Fare 'trayed coffee
I've worked with Latin American coffee growers for about 18 years. Fair Trade policies don't yield an improvement in sustainability, since the dominant mechanism is to encourage encumbrance of debt to plant the quickest-returning hybrid coffees. No shade cultivation, limited organic potential, no medium-term or long-term benefits. No help for estate coffee growers who are still setting the highest standards for environmental benefit, organic, sustainable coffee growth. It does wonders for brand new coffee growers, like the new Vietnamese suppliers. Unfortunately, it fills the int'l commodity market with countless tons of crap coffee and keeps the price down for those whose families have conscientiously grown their sustainable environments for generations. Apparently, the greatest benefit is for US coffee roasters who improve their bottom line at the expense of the people who do the work.
Fair Trade
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The Article says that the Fair Trade Certification results in an extra $0.10 per pound to the farmer. As a coffeehouse owner I pay my roaster an extra $1.00 per pound for Fair Trade Coffee. He says that this represents the extra cost he pays plus the fee he pays to the certification agency and I tend to believe him as I know him very well and have a excellent and honest business relationship.
So the question is where does the extra 90 cents per pound go? Is is just going to fatten the wallets of the brokers and to support certification agency? Are the middle men taking 90% of the increase in selling price under the pretence of benefiting the farmers who only see 10%? Can't we find a more efficient way to help the farmers?
If so, and it would seem so, then it is likely that farmers the world over would benefit from and end to the "Fair Trade" system. The lower price would raise demand which would result in higher farm pricing. The gain is likely to be far more than at the farm than ten cents per pound, save consumers money, and reduce the role of self designated agencies that live off the desire of people to do good while keeping most of the value to themselves.
speaking from one small coffee ranch in Chiapas
I have been helping a family in Chiapas with their organic coffee farming procedures for several years. They normally have sold their coffee for about 13 to 17 pesos a kilo to large trucks that pass through. It just then goes into the great bulk of local coffee and passes through the system to reach your coffee cup. From their modest operation, the family of 5, on about 10 acres of coffee, grosses between $400 to $600 US dollars a year and have no other source of income. After they pay some needed help costs, it is reduced to half and this is very much below the poverty level in the world. I have been trying to find a way to help them earn a bit more but have been very disappointed with all of the catch words of coffee marketing such as fair trade, as they seem to do little for the actual farm family. At least, I can see no benefits in this area.
If there were a system for these small farmers to connect up with an organization to help them sell directly to stores or the like, I would do this for them and encourage our neighbors to do the same. There would be no middle costs and these poor farmers would actually be able to earn enough to provide for their families. Should anyone have advice for me or contacts that wish to buy from this family, email me at beckermiles@gmail.com. I would love to be able to help them better but am frustrated by the present systems and catch words.
Reason had a very good piece
Reason had a very good piece on the perils of Fair Trade coffee a couple of years a go.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33257.html
Who's the fairest of them all?
I have to say, I am disappointed in Mother Jones, as a leader in progressive and investigative journalism. Fair Trade is not something that is as simple as a price paid to farmers. To me, it means changing power structures that have traditionally kept people voiceless - without any control over their livelihoods. It means they own and run their farms and make their own business decisions. As someone who has stayed with coffee farmers who sell to the Fair Trade market (and previously sold to the conventional market), I've seen firsthand what FT and especially their organization as a co-op has meant to the community.
Check out this blog post:
http://smallfarmersbigchange.coop/2008/04/21/wwwsmallfarmersbigchangecoop/
Fair Trade is more than price or product
I agree with the comments that suggest this retort is pretty superficial and misses the point that Fair Trade is not just about rising incomes in one product area (and the person who thinks it tastes bad must not be drinking the blends I love such as Larry's Beans and Peace Coffee) Also FT is not one organization, although there certainly are problems in the certification system. Instead, FT is "a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency, and respect that seeks to restore greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better (note: not perfect) trading conditions to, and securing the rights of marginalized producers, especially in the South." Check out the Fair Trade Federation and the World Fair Trade Organization (formerly IFAT) for examples of how these partnership are working around the globe for farmers, artisans AND consumers who want to partake in a system that, while flawed, it seeking to put concerns of people and the planet on equal footing with the drive for profits.
Jacqueline DeCarlo, author, Fair Trade: A Beginner's Guide
http://jacqdecarlo.blogspot.com
Since when has being fair come easy
I'm also shocked that any Mother Jones reader would expect to blindly buy into any system and find perfection. Fair Trade is not simple or perfect, but it is a system that at the very least sets up price minimums where none exist and strives to give small-scale farmers a voice in a world so focused on consumers. Anyone familiar with the Fair Trade movement knows they are continually pushing for improvement and some Fair Trade companies go above and beyond the basic requirements.
Yes, new trade legislation would be great, but I'm not holding my breath. A consumer that truly wants to be educated will know their coffee company, know their relationship with the farmers they buy from, and not be afraid to ask what the farmers are being paid and the conditions in which they live. If you can't do that, you're buying from the wrong company. The Fair Trade label is your first marker, after that you have to do a little digging on your own.
Who can help do my
Who can help do my dissertation for me on this topic? I need professional assistance.
coffee is definitely way to
coffee is definitely way to high in price. I am glad they are helping the farmers out in this. I just wish coffee would come down in price.
Fair Trade gives us a warm fuzzy feeling
Like many other current issues, Fair Trade poses a blanket solution so that middle class consumers can feel like they are doing something positive in the world. Fair Trade promises nothing fair to the farmer, as words such as "fair" "better" and "improve" are subjective terms. Farmers and cooperatives pay an exuberant amount of fees only to be able to put a little sticker on every bag of coffee they sell. It's a marketing scheme that allows middle men to continue to profit at the expense of the individuals at the bottom of the food chain. Smaller farmer and farming cooperatives don't have the money to afford the fancy Fair Trade labels. The only way the system to be fair is if we bought directly from the farmer and cut out all of the middle men. The fact that on the fair trade website they say they do just that, is a lie. They have just replaced one middle man with another.
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