Fair Trade Coffee - Another US Marketing Ploy
Hungry Potato
Dear Coffee Drinker,
"Fair Trade" is a certification that is given primarily to a company that can prove, together with a specific coffee farm, that fair prices are being given to the independent farm. These are certifications that are primarily being marketed in the USA by a firm in California. For example, StarBucks may promote a certain type of coffee that is being sold as Fair Trade coffee. Not all their coffee can be sold as such because this only applies to a very few farms that hold these certifications together with the buyer. This needs to be proven to the agencies in the United States that govern this certification. Even though StarBucks sells one type of coffee that is certified Fair Trade this does not mean that all their coffee is certified. This would be an impossible task. The biggest problem is most US companies only pay the farmer or roaster Fair Trade and then they have to trust that the roaster is passing this extra money to the laborers. So the farmer gets a fair price but the laborers, many times children work for pennies a day.AND FAIR TRADE - However does not ensure that children are not used to pick coffee or that the children are given a fair price. Neither does it ensure that the migrate farm laborers are paid fair prices. Fair Trade has been great in elevating people's awareness of the coffee industry and has ensured that the coffee farmer and or roaster is getting a fair price and to a lesser extend some farmers but it has not always helped the people actually picking the coffee and completing the other coffee labor.
...So if you want to make a statement and buy a coffee really making a difference - buy a Costa Rica coffee.
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posted by Robert @ 3/14/2007
1 Comments
1 Comments:
It is a fact that many coffee sellers and buyiers in the US are requesting the fair trade certification. Most dont realize that this "sitcker" is extreamely expensive and that many farmers, even though they recieve a fair price for their coffee, cannot afford a certification. The National Federation of Cofffee Growers of Colombia has been developing lots of protective, benefitial programs for coffee growers for over a decade. The mayority of the coffee growers in Colombia are associated to Cooperatives. These Cooperatives make sure that all the coffee they produce is bought and at a fair price. The Cooperatives are part of the Federation and these two organizations make sure the coffee growers children have education, they provide them with agricultural engeneers who asess them in the coffee growing product, amongst others. If you realy are concenrned about the well being of coffee growers, I invite you all to visit www.cafedecolombia.com.
This is a fair trade program, not just a very expensive sticker.
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