Article: Fair Trade or Fairly Traded?

Here's the article from the recent newsletter, in its entirety.

As consumers, do we always consider the impact of our purchasing power? How many times have you stopped to ask yourself, "Where was this craft, coffee, chocolate, or tea produced, and did the worker receive a fair wage for his or her work effort? Probably not often. After all, we live in a consumer society conditioned with not just an individual, but a collective consumptive mentality. That those products represent some of our largest imports from under-developed nations whose cost of living increases against a backdrop of stagnant wages, makes this a topic well worth consideration.

Not many of us have the phrase "Global Equity" etched across the top of our weekly shopping lists. Conditioned to believe that we need the next best thing and in ever increasing quantities, we've moved through much of our lives down a consistent though generally thoughtless path of frenetic purchasing activity.

Fair Trade is an organized endeavor to correct that course. It serves to help marginalized workers and small scale producers to attain economic self-sufficiency and stability toward an increased standard of living. Fair Trade promotes the practice of fair pricing and ethical consumer consumption through international labor standards, environmentalism, education, and the development of social policies around labeled and unlabeled Fair Trade products.

Contemporary economics traditionally driven by consumerism has been focused primarily on the relationship between product quality and price. Fair Trade seeks to create an equitable exchange and so has developed a labeling and certification process as a means to further protect workers and producers, while assisting consumers in their conscientious shopping activities.

THE FAIR TRADE DEBATE There are two major camps of debate surrounding the Fair Trade issue: one that sees Fair Trade as an unnecessary subsidy that impedes economic growth; and one that sees organized Fair Trade as paying lip service - that Fair Trade is not enough and somewhat falling short of a thorough challenge to the current trading system. Amidst this, the promising hope of change. With the advent of (CSR) Corporate Social Responsibility at the big business level pushing for responsible action, to public education and the quiet conscious efforts of smaller businesses and organizations who have long known and understood the importance of economic equality - Fair Trade has moved from a remote public consideration to a genuine model of moral socio-economic behavior.

One company effecting change is the Camano Island Coffee Roasting Company.

Jeff Ericson, founder of Camano Island Coffee believes that Fair Trade is not enough:

"We not only must make sure that a fair price is paid for the coffee - we also need to make sure that the farmers own the land that they work on. We need to make sure the children are getting basic health services and learning to read and write - so we do not repeat this process again in the next generation. We need to make sure the people are not totally dependent on just one crop (like coffee) - but that they have other ways to make money. We need to make sure that the village we work with has learned to work together as a team and can create streamlined approaches to business challenges of a rural area and that they have clean water to drink."

THEN- we can pay a fair price for their coffee while requiring the coffee is organic and shade grown.

The challenge with a bureaucracy is that they tend to "lower the bar" in order to get everyone (even the big guns) into the pack.

We feel sustainability is a commitment - not a marketing term. If you do anything less then 100% in your purchasing decisions of coffee - then we feel you should not call yourself "fairly traded".

We use the term "fairly traded" because we do not feel it is our role to promote a bureaucracy but to promote a practice of responsible consumerism.

Jeff has built his organization based on principles of quality, equality and service. They provide exceptional organic coffee products that are produced with the utmost regard for sustainability. It is a system that is vigorously enforced, providing fair-trade wage and opportunity to the coffee farmers who work so hard to maintain that delicate balance of health and prosperity.

Camano Island Coffee beans are 100% organic, shade-grown which preserves the native plants, and fairly traded using the top 1% of the available coffee market. The company aims to develop "Prosumers", or customers who are conscious of the impact their dollars have on coffee spending.

A strong part of the philanthropic vision is realized through its mission-based business model. The company participates in two key charity programs: Coffee Kids Grounds For Hope and Agros International - both committed to breaking the cycle of poverty for families in Central America and Mexico by enabling landless communities to develop, achieve land ownership and economic stability.

Camano Island Coffee Roasters at: www.camanoislandcoffee.com

ONEGREENGLOBE.COM Q & A Conscious consumers and representatives of the Fair Trade industry share their views:

Q1: People use the terms, Fair Trade and Fairly Traded Products interchangeably. What do these terms mean to you?

A1: The term "Fair Trade Certified" indicates a product that is licensed according to specific

Fair Trade standards. Our Fair Trade Certified label is a guarantee, not just a claim. It ensures that the product purchased has been produced or grown according to an international set of economic, social and environmental standards aimed toward creating greater sustainability. To us, this is a guarantee of transparency and equity.

Jennifer Rudolf Pr manager, TransFair U.S.A.

I had never heard of Fairly Traded products until you mentioned them here. I still do not know the difference between the two. I did see a graphic in ODE Magazine that showed that the difference between a normal "free" trade T-shift and a fair trade one for the workers was 2 cents on a $15 shirt. It didn't seem like a big gain for the workers.

Personally, I think the debate needs to move toward relating manufacturing wages to a living wage in the area. If we had hard (easily computed and verifiable) living wage numbers, it would be much easier to determine if a given product was being traded fairly or not. I do not think it is fair for the workers that create the products to be paid starvation wages when the other players in the process (distributors, employers, marketers, retailers, etc) are making so much.

Dr. Clay M. Thompson, Environmentalist Founder, Creative Creek

Fair Trade has a specific definition, whereas Fairly Traded Products is a much more vague term. If you see a food product like coffee or chocolate that says that it is Fair Trade Certified and it has the certification label on it, you can be guaranteed that certain criteria have been met, and that third party certification includes independent monitoring to ensure that the criteria is met. One example would be the minimum floor price; for coffee, a Fair Trade label of coffee ensures that the farmers were paid at least 1.26 per pound. For a list of Fair Trade Certified criteria for food products within the U.S. visit www.transfairusa.org.

It is more difficult for consumers to identify Fair Trade craft products because there isn't currently a certification label. This may be why you see the term fairly traded more often on craft products; because there is no label as of yet.

Tex Dworkin Manager, Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store

Q2: What do you see as the biggest challenge to upholding a Fair Trade practice in business?

A2: Creating a uniform set of standards becomes challenging when dealing with different farming practices and various local economies, especially when dealing with different products. For example, the farming practices and challenges within the coffee industry vary greatly from those prevalent within the banana industry.

Jennifer Rudolf

Information flow is the key. Certifying/Branding, like the Fair Trade people are doing, is probably the best way as long as the certification process doesn't get usurped like the organic standards have.

Dr. Clay M. Thompson

Not having a certification label for non-food products makes it difficult to market Fair Trade to consumers. Another big challenge is having to educate consumers about fair trade while marketing it. If consumer awareness was more widespread, it would be easier to market ethically produced goods.

Tex Dworkin

Q3: What do you see as some of the greatest opportunities for positive change in this area?

A3: Even though Fair Trade is still a fairly new concept in the US - we've been around nearly 10 years - we are beginning to see the direct, positive impact of increased revenues from Fair Trade Certified purchases at origin. Cooperatives around the world producing Fair Trade Certified goods have been able to build schools, improve their work facilities, increase the quality of their drinking water, repair roads, open health clinics, and lend positive change not only to the workers but also to the surrounding community. Beyond this, the ability of Fair Trade Certified standards to lend to greater dignity among farming communities is invaluable to us. That a farmer can feed his family and afford to send his children to school is the most positive change we could hope to see within our farming communities.

Jennifer Rudolf

I would start with trying to identify what the living wages are for a manufacturing region and country and make that known. Then do comparisons of the actual wages relative to the living wages. If they are higher, great. If not, build awareness that the products are not being manufactured fairly. Also promote products that are being manufactured/traded fairly.

Dr. Clay M. Thompson

Fair Trade has the capability to create self sustaining villages throughout the world, lessening underprivileged artisans and farmers' dependence on foreign aid and truly empowering them to step out of vicious cycles of poverty.

Tex Dworkin

Q4: What do you see as the role of the various Fair Trade Organization and Certification Programs?

A4: The role of Fair Trade Certification is to certify products, link licensees with producers, open the market by increasing consumer awareness and demand for Fair Trade Certified products, and audit the cooperatives at origin to ensure that the standards are being met.

Jennifer Rudolf

Very important since this is probably the easiest way to communicate to the consumer about the "life cycle" of the product. By "life cycle" here I mean the social and environmental impacts of the product (is it fairly manufactured, does its manufacture help or hurt the environment, is the product itself life affirming?).

Dr. Clay M. Thompson

Fair Trade Organizations have the ability to assist farmers and artisans to step out of the cycle of poverty and into a role of self sustainability. Certified coffee, chocolate and more has already proven to be a feasible, successful business model. In that realm, Fair Trade certification needs to be introduced to the global market and consumers need to be educated on the benefits of purchasing Fair Trade products. In terms of crafts, it is important to make a concerted effort to create a Fair Trade certification for crafts so that it is easier to identify these products to consumers. In both cases, the role of organizations and certifications is to market "Fair Trade" to consumers, encourage large companies and corporations to adopt fair trade principles in their day to day business operations, and do what we can to prep the market for Fair Trade products to grow demand for such products. At this time, Fair Trade product supply far outweighs demand. By working within the market to raise consumer awareness, Fair Trade organizations will help grow the movement.

Tex Dworkin

Q5: What changes would you like to see in Fair Trade Organizations and Certification Processes?

A5: We'd like to be able to help more farmers. Ideally, we'd like Fair Trade Certified products to include non-food products, domestic goods, textiles, clothing, manufactured goods and gemstones.

Jennifer Rudolf

Comparison to the living wage. Transparency and accountability. Some way to avoid what is happening to organic now (where the standards are being watered down so much that consumers lose trust in them -- e.g., USDA organic).

Dr. Clay M. Thompson

1) More collaboration between various international organizations working on Fair Trade. 2) More resources/funding for fair trade organizations so they can take the necessary steps to grow the industry. For example, funding enabling specialists to visit producer groups to provide vital design, tech, etc advice. Also funding so that fair trade groups can be visited by third parties to ensure that fair trade practices are being adhered to.

Tex Dworkin

Q6: What can the everyday consumer and/or business do to promote the practice of Fairly Traded products and Fair Trade, in the spirit for which it was intended?

A6: Purchasing power truly does make a difference. By voting with your shopping cart, you are contributing to a system that betters the lives of farmers in developing countries. Look for the label and go out of your way to purchase Fair Trade Certified products. When you don't see the label in your local grocery store or café, ask for it. Becoming a conscientious consumer is the most direct way to support the movement that helps improve the lives of traditional, small family farmers around the world.

Jennifer Rudolf

Businesses: Help build trust in the good certification programs. Put the certification logo on their products. Require their products be created by workers who receive at least the living wage.

Consumers: Do not buy anything that doesn't meet the minimum standards. Make it known (by letters, boycotts, blogs, etc) what we expect from manufacturers.

Dr. Clay M. Thompson

-Purchase Fair Trade products that are currently available like coffee and chocolate -Request fair trade products at cafes, supermarkets, etc -Pressure manufacturers like World's Finest and Nestle to pay fair trade prices -Spread the word to others about the importance of buying Fair Trade products.

Tex Dworkin

About the Author

Marie Gunter is the Co-Founder of OneGreenGlobe.com, a leading online community for conscientious individuals, businesses and groups promoting sustainable and healthful living. A life-long proponent of holistic systems and a seasoned promoter of innovative technololgies, Marie provides consulting, business development and public speaking services throughout the U.S.