Indieoma

Check your coffee. Do you know how it got to your hands? Sure, we all have our favorite brands for everything. That spot for our morning cup of coffee? That’s an easy question to answer. But what about where the coffee was produced, or if the coffee farmers were paid a fair price for their product? The environmental standards for production? Chances are, we haven’t thought to ask these questions of today’s first coffee cup, never mind considered if there’s even a way to get the answers.

Fair Trade provides a model of greater transparency. In order to be certified Fair Trade, products must live up to a strict social, economic, and environmental standards. That comes as a plus to the consumer—we know exactly who has produced our product and that it was produced through environmentally sustainable methods—and it doesn’t just mean coffee. Fair Trade products include coffee, tea, chocolate, sugar, many crafts and housewares, just to name a few.

A basic tenet of the Fair Trade model is fairness to the workers. The system gives its workers a means of overcoming their poverty by giving them the business skills to compete in the global economy. Oftentimes, the workers producing some of our most common products do not receive adequate wages for their work. Fair Trade guarantees a minimum floor price for the goods and eliminates local middlemen, allowing farmers to get more than the fraction of the price of the products that they usually retain. Within this system, the farmers themselves have access to the market, giving them a fair shot at succeeding in a globalized world.

Today, however, Fair Trade remains just a small microcosm of the global economy, ignored by or unknown to the majority of consumers. This calls to question the current Fair Trade model’s long-term viability. Fair Trade cannot continue to be of service to the people within its system without ongoing and increasing awareness. It’s now on the consumer to demand Fair Trade products; in reality, this is a demand for fairer market practices overall.

For many, the world is at an economic crossroads. The current recession has made us all hyper-aware of the everyday choices we need to make with our wallets. Do we cut out a morning cup of coffee? Buy that extra chocolate bar? Fair Trade hangs a dangerous balance; though not by a lot, products can tend to be a bit more expensive than conventional products. This is mostly because Fair Trade products are often certified organic, not because the farmers are earning a better income. The workers can expect a better income because the process jumps the middlemen, allowing cooperatives to sell directly to importers. Still, at a time when every consumer carefully scrutinizes purchases, Fair Trade too is at a crossroads.

Fair Trade will only persist if knowledge of this option persists. To continue to impact the global market, awareness must expand. Without a demand, the market for Fair Trade products will eventually disappear. Fair Trade as a movement will fall away as a passing fad. The alternative is an increase in pressure for Fair Trade products and, by extension, the practices that the system requires to operate.

Fair Trade is a stepping stone to greater change. Right now, it functions as an alternative system to common market practices, giving consumers the option to purchase goods that demand fair and sustainable practices in production and payment. Eventually, however, if the call for these products endures, Fair Trade will expand to bring greater workers’ rights and fairness to the larger economic system. This means not only ensuring that farmers and artisans get fair prices for their product and access to the market, but also that consumers can expect transparency when they make a purchase. So back to today’s first cup of coffee. Can you get those answers?


Some Fair Trade resources:

The Fair Trade Federation promotes North American organizations committed to Fair Trade: http://fairtradefederation.org/


TransFair USA certifies Fair Trade products and provides information about just what Fair Trade is and how you can purchase products: http://www.transfairusa.org/


Some ways to purchase Fair Trade Goods:
http://www.serrv.org/Default.aspx, one of the first alternative trade organizations in the world


http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/home.php, one of the world’s oldest and largest Fair Trade organizations; a network of stores and online shopping to purchase a variety of Fair Trade gifts


http://www.mercadoglobal.org/index.php?section=1, links the world’s most rural and economically disadvantaged cooperatives to the U.S. market


http://www.globalexchangestore.org/default.asp, an online store for all things Fair Trade


http://fairtradesports.com/, first Fair Trade sports equipment company in the U.S.


http://www.beadforlife.org/, Ugandan women craft beads out of recycled paper


http://www.interrupcion.net/, promotes socially responsible businesses


http://madimports.org/, source to purchase handmade handbags from Madagascar and Kenya


http://www.equalexchange.coop/, a source for many Fair Trade food and drink products


Links to the other Voting with Your Wallet posts:

Johnny – Fishy Business

Mike – Think, create share, consume, share, create: Liberalise creative freedom. Free Liberalism.

Ric – The Credit Crunch

Gala – Italian Cultural Finance [Italian and English]

Karim – Brandon Holding Hands With Everyone

Open Ideas – Truth Machine- Free Stonhenge