New UK Report: "Fair Trade" Not Helping Poorest Farms

This from African Agriculture, regarding the newly published report "Unfair Trade":

Tom Clougherty, policy director at the Adam Smith Institute, said: "At best, Fairtrade is a marketing device that does the poor little good. At worst, it may inadvertently be harming some of the planet's most vulnerable people. There is nothing wrong with being concerned about the working conditions, wages and environment of workers, but we don't believe Fairtrade is the most effective model. They make assumptions about agriculture in the developing world - that they must be small farming cooperatives, but this is just not sustainable if countries are to develop."

Our coffee roaster, Intelligentsia, developed a different model, called Direct Trade (TM), that addresses most of the weaknesses of Fair Trade, especially in the area of sustainable practices.

The more you know...

Comments

[Russ]

The difficulty, as I see it, is that small roasters don't have the economic access that folks like Intelly do. How do we make an economic mark in the coffee world that is roughly (very roughly admittedly) verifiable? I agree that Fair Trade has lots of problems, but it is at least better than the C market. There just isn't much that small fry roasters like me can do until we get the means to establish those sorts of relationships.

[Rich]

The C market is at $1.60 right now...

Which is not to say it'll stay there, but that's one of the major flaws of FTC - fixed pricing.

Russ, not meaning to throw any of the good guys like BFCAT under a bus. We know you consider taste as well as ethics when you choose what you're roasting and serving.

Unfortunately, many well-meaning people consider the FTC label as being "good", regardless of the quality of the coffee inside. And that doesn't help anyone.

There are FTC coffees that are very good. There are also those that aren't. FTC itself makes no claims for quality. Which puts ensuring quality the task of the roaster, and in many cases - not yours - they fail.

We're all hoping FTC improves or is replaced by better system. I have heard of co-ops/clubs of micro roasters who do band together to make purchases of "relationship coffee", but I don't think I know anyone in one. But that's something that might work for you in addition to the FTC stuff you're buying.

[Phil]

Rich (and Russ)-

For an example of co-op relationship coffee, check out Cooperative Coffees (coopcoffees.com). Beleza's roaster is a member.

[Russ]

I never took offense. The quality issue is certainly a problem as well as the fixed pricing (although I think the 'promise' is to stay 10% above commodity).

I will check out the Coop certainly. Thankfully, since we aren't big, our customers trust that we are going to be giving them the straight truth about where our coffees come from--so the certification issue is less than with mass brands (although the allure for the 'just a coffee' drinker of certification is very high).

[Melanie]

Hey Russ, hope all is well this snowy day.
I think you make an excellent point about small roasters, and I applaud your efforts.