Fair trade is about more than just paying a fair wage. There are a number of reports and investigations that indicate that fair trade inspections are unreliable. 9. Fair trade makes the world a better place. people are living in extreme poverty worldwide, 1101 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005. Fair-trade advocates argue that the eco-benefits extend beyond these simple rules. 3. The farmer knows bag A would be worth $1.70 per pound on the open market because the quality is high and bag B would be worth only $1.20 because the quality is lower. This is why British consumers participated in Fairtrade fortnight throughout the past two weeks, recognising the work the Foundation has. Unlike conventional importers, FTF members establish long term relationships with their producers and help them adapt production to changing trends. Food Politics: Voting with Your Trolley. The Economist: Special Report. Cooperatives and producer associations provide a healthy alternative to large-scale manufacturing and sweatshop conditions, where unprotected workers earn below minimum wage and most of the profits flow to foreign investors and local elites who have little interest in ensuring the long term health of the communities in which they work. Increasingly, these certification labels focus on large farms and factories. "Endangered Species Chocolate is committed to crafting delicious premium chocolate while supporting species, habitat, and humanity." This acts as a 50%+ advance payment. Fairtrade is the most recognized and trusted sustainability label in the world. When you treat farmers and workers fairly, everyone benefits. Businesses who invest in fair trade certification for their products are investing in the farmers and workers they source from . People make fair trade happen. Named after a best-selling 19th century book, the Max Havelaar label initially applied only to coffee in the Netherlands, but similar labeling initiatives grew up independently across Europe within a few years. But these concerns may be overstated: Fair-trade certification generally bans the use of virgin forest land, and there is little evidence that its small-scale adoption has caused any overproduction. Its a system of continuous evaluation, refinement, and improvement to deliver the change needed for every stakeholder to succeed. Then they must make a plan of how they can lessen the impacts and keep checking that this plan is carried out. In some cases the quality is actually higher because fair trade organizations factor in the environmental cost of production. In an effort to assist the country's growing oil industry and encourage economic growth, Canada has become the first nation to adopt a policy that reduces the rate at which carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are produced rather than the total amount produced. In 2002, the first World Fair Trade Day was celebrated to heighten consumer awareness and to strengthen connections among fair traders and interested citizens around the globe. Get in touch and let us help you with everything from finding a certified supply chain to marketing your newly certified product. These labels increasingly focus on large factories and farms. They may decide to use it to upgrade the milling equipment of a cooperative, improve irrigation, or provide some community benefit, such as medical or educational facilities. Marketing Ethics: Selling Controversial Products. The whole concept of Fairtrade goes to the heart of our values and the sense of right and wrong. They based Certified Fair Trade on a cooperative approach where farmers join the Fair Trade Organization and follow best practices. Traditionally womens skills and financial contributions are undervalued in Ghana. Tonys Chocolonely has a big mission: to make 100% slave free the norm in chocolate. In smallholder agricultural systems, when knowledge gaps between men and women are reduced via training for women, productivity can increase by as much as 131%. Why do consumers buy Fair Trade products? Who We Are, World Fair Trade Organization, accessed November 25, 2014, http://www.wfto.com/about-us/who-we-are. However, many new inventions need financial help to get off the ground. One of the principal elements of the fair trade concept is the requirement that a portion of each cooperatives earnings must be invested locally in projects to benefit the farmers, e.g., building schools, hiring teachers, funding for womens empowerment groups, and/or investment in healthcare. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, disadvantaged producers and workersespecially in the South. Customers are attracted to the fair trade concept. Next, let us describe how the process works in bringing fair trade products to your kitchen. As of March 2011, FLO fixed a price floor of $1.40 per pound of green coffee beans, It is these requirements and pricing structure that create a quality problem for Fair Trade coffee A simple example illustrates this point. Most fair trade food products do not have North American-based alternatives. Bonner Talweg 177 This percentage is significantly higher in operations that rely on hired labor, in particular the apparel and home goods sector, compared to smallholder agriculture and in small-scale fisheries. Since then, great advancements have been made and while gender equality is now widely recognized as a human right, gender disparities remain a persistent form of inequality in every country. At the same time, they seek to minimize the negative elements that result in lower labor, social, and environmental standards that hide the true costs of production. Eric Goldschein, 11 Incredible Facts About the Global Coffee Industry, Business Insider, November 14, 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-about-the-coffee-industry-2011-11?op=1. Most fair trade organizations, including Fair Trade USA and FLO, promote social and economic development projects in the farmers communities. When you see a product with the Fair Trade Certified seal, you can trust that it was made according to rigorous social, environmental, and economic standards that protect the livelihoods of farmers, workers, fishers, and other producer communities. Global Mamas protects the rights of children by not only guaranteeing that children are not involved in production, but also by providing their parents with the needed income to finance their school fees, uniforms and supplies. The Fairtrade trademark has become the worlds leading way of designating that a product qualifies as fair trade. December 7, 2006. http://www.economist.com/node/8380592. It would be more ethical to buy directly from known farmers, regardless of certification. In 1997, these organizations createdFairtrade Labelling Organizations International(FLO), an umbrella organization which sets the fair trade certification standards and supports, inspects, and certifies disadvantaged farmers. She is also concerned that the supply is more limited and that she will have to choose lower quality coffees. In 1949, Sales Exchange for Refugee Rehabilitation and Vocation (Serrv) began helping refugees in Europe recover from World War II. Thus fair trade organizations have come under fire for allegedly making promises they cannot keep. Global Mamas is active in providing consumers with access to resources as well as participating in events that educate about fair trade. Fairtrade changes lives by changing trade. Through direct and long-term relationships, producers and fair trade organizations dialogue about consumer needs and create high quality products. Ironically, many of these criticisms began surfacing just as fair trade was starting to achieve widespread acceptance from consumers and retailers. If the coffee shop does a good job of promoting why their prices have increased and gives consumers a reason to pay more, they will. Reality:Wages are designed to provide fair compensation based on the true cost of production, and are not based on North American wage standards. Not, intentionally, use products that include genetically modified organisms (GMO). As of 2013, no universal metric had yet been developed to measure the impact that fair trade projects actually have on the developing world. The Theory of Change takes into account more than farmers or fishers. It is worth noting at the outset that there are some slight variations in the way this concept is spelled or presented. The word fair can mean a lot of different things to different people. The company has announced that its goal is to ensure that one hundred percent of its coffee products are ethically sourced by 2015. As a leader in the global movement to make trade fair, Fairtrade supports and challenges businesses and governments and connects farmers and workers with the people who buy their products. A farmer has two bags of coffee to sell and there is a Fair Trade buyer for only one bag. In 1999, Starbucks began working with FLO and TransFair USA to buy and sell Fairtrade certified products and launched the first official sales of certified coffee in 2000.13 Thereafter, Starbucks established the Coffee and Farmer Equity (CAFE) Practices buying guidelines to delineate a specific set of rules and regulations pertaining to ethically sourced coffee, with the goal of eventually ensuring that all of Starbuckss imported coffee would qualify as ethically sourced (though relatively little of that would be Fair Trade certified). International Womens Day is a global celebration of womens achievement and a call for collective action to accelerate gender parity. In order to sell their coffee to fair trade exporting cooperatives, farmers must agree to limit their use of child labor, GMOs, herbicides, and pesticides. You will also see some products in the marketplace that carry a fair trade certification seal. Small-scale farmers and artisans in the developing world lack access to affordable financing, impeding their profitability. Wendy proposes that she and Blake research the topic and present their arguments to a jury composed of five people whom Wendy considers as New Yorks top experts in running and expanding socially responsible businesses. 15. Workers are free to join unions and bargain collectively to help improve their lives. World Shops became the first retail distribution network of fair trade products and the first European World Shops conference was held in 1984.2. Global Mamas puts an emphasis on creating space for women to succeed as entrepreneurs and achieve financial independence. Keep in mind that fair trade does not equal organic: The international labeling group encourages, but does not require, producers to "work toward organic practices where socially and economically practical." In many cases, it appears that retailers believe they can increase profits if they jump on the fair trade bandwagon. A trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. Women make up 80% of the workforce in global garment supply chains, as well as more than 80% of the seafood processing sector. In Britain, a debate has resulted over whether it's better to increase trade with Africa or to reduce emissions from the air freighting of otherwise environmentally sound produce. Fair Trade USA requires that all its farmers have access to doctors and affordable medical treatment in case of illness or injury. All rights reserved. Following a concept similar to that of the Ten Thousand Villages storefronts in the United States, the Dutch opened a fair trade World Shop in 1969. Its not a coincidence that when women are uplifted, entire communities thrive. We are happy to provide additional information about our verification upon inquiry. By choosing Fairtrade, people can create change through their everyday actions. 7. Fair Trade: Conscious Consumerism Comes to Coffee. Fair trade quickly outgrew its European origins. Fair trade changes lives by changing trade. The principal characteristic of the integrated system, which was the original fair trade organisation approach, is the fact that all the businesses intervening in the creation and marketing of the product (producers, processors, importers and points of sale) voluntarily abide by fair trade principles. The cost remains the same as conventionally traded goods; however, more of the sale price goes to producers. One of these was the Network of European World Shops (NEWS! Which should he sell as Fair Trade coffee for the guaranteed price of $1.40? Living wages vary widely between regions of the world and individual communities. Heres a simple way to think of the Theory of Change process: Fair Trade USAs standards, and strategic partnerships, have led to the creation of tools (the inputs) and the development of programs (the outputs) that directly affect the lives of farmers, fishers, producers, and consumers. Now, fair trade coffee is as ubiquitous on supermarket shelves as food deemed certifiably organicbut compared to the organic label, the fair trade certification process is more complex and subject to different interpretations from different certifying bodies. Mexico is also considering implementing intensity ratios. 15 In 2006, a Financial Times investigation of fair trade in Peru revealed that out of ten mills that claimed to sell fair trade coffee, all ten had sold uncertified coffee as certified. More specifically, fair trade operates primarily as a certification system under which qualified producers (who follow certain environmental and labor standards) are guaranteed a minimum price for their production. The benefits come back to help us. Artemia Rodriguez is a lifelong sugar cane producer, and lives in a home built with Fair Trade emergency funds. Peter Fritsch, An Oversupply of Coffee Beans Deepens Latin Americas Woes, The Wall Street Journal, July 8, 2002, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1026078773964234000.djm.html . They are often used by multi-national brands who cannot be fully fair trade but wish to improve some of their practices. Companies that wish to market their products as fair trade and feature a certification label or trademark (such as Fairtrade or Fair Trade Certified) on their packaging must conform to the standards of one of the national certification authorities. Steady and continuous orders ensure that their business is a sustainable source of income. Fairtrade is about making sure people get their fair share of the pie. Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else. It also found that workers on fair trade farms were often paid beneath the minimum wage, in violation of fair trade standards. How do I know that a product is fair trade? A framework for discussion}, author={Peter Leigh Taylor}, journal={Journal of Rural Studies}, year={2005}, volume={21}, pages={433-447} } P. L. Taylor Fair trade advocates higher wages and prices to reviewed producers along with higher social and environmental standards. Indeed, as we will see, some portion of these high prices is indirectly returned to the farmers, but in most cases, the amount is less than consumers would expect. The whole argument for emissions intensity is that it doesn't set a cap and allows for economic expansions while reducing the amount of emissions on a unit-produced basis, which is attractive to most industrial producers. 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