Fair Trade Coffee Basics
-- Chain Leader, 8/1/2007
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on half the world.”
That may be truer today than it was 40 years ago. Regardless of your opinion, more and more customers feel it is important to ensure that farmers from around the world are treated fairly. Hence, the demand for of fair-trade practices.
“It was once thought that people who buy Egg McMuffins don’t care about fair trade products,” says Anthony Marek, director of public relations and external communications for TransFair USA, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, Calif., that certifies and audits fair trade products in the United States. “The more we educate people, the more they look for and demand fair trade products.”
ABCs of Fair Trade Coffee
Fair trade ensures that the farmers who grow the crops receive a fair price for the harvest, the employees work in safe conditions, and the crops are grown using environmentally sustainable practices. It is a seal of approval to the growing number of socially conscious consumers who want to know they are not purchasing and consuming products from exploited farmers in Third World countries.
Fair trade came to the U.S. market in 1986, in response to a coffee crisis that sent many small-scale farmers into debt. Coffee was the only fair trade product offered, and it wasn't readily available.
In 1998, TransFair USA began certifying fair-trade coffee. Since then, its Fair Trade Certified program has earned coffee farmers $92 million in additional income. In 2006, the average world coffee price was $1.07 per pound with some farmers selling to middlemen for 50 cents a pound; Fair Trade Certified farmers were paid a minimum of $1.21.
Should You Buy Free-Trade Coffee?
Fair Trade Certified coffee has become the fastest-growing specialty coffee in the United States, according to TransFair USA. From 2005 to 2006, sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee increased by 45 percent; up 10 percent from the previous year.
But while free-trade coffee brings goodwill for certain customers, it also costs more. Company research may be required to determine if the added expense is required. Continue to update that research as customers’ knowledge about sustainable practices and ingredient sources increases.