Fair Trade Food and Drink

faceman

Does anyone know how much of a difference fair trade food/drink products makes to the third world?

ponderer

Yes

Jesus Wept

sounds expensive

The Sweeper

Two stunningly helpful answers there...

I understand the concept of fair trade food and drink.
In terms of a quantifiable difference, it's hard to tell.

International trade using a middle man works because first world countries never need to enter third world countries, so the middle man - say the coffee bean buyer, can screw the plantation owner to the wall on price, and the plantation owner can then pass that screwing on to his workers, paying them barely enough to live on even by their country's standards, employing children etc. etc. The first world coffee company in the past could claim ignorance of the workers' conditions at the coalface, because they use a middle man.

Fair trade cuts out the middle man. The first world companies send their own people directly to the plantation to buy the beans, simply put. The only reason they do it at all is because they're under pressure from consumers and their competitors, and they've realised they can use 'fair trade' - and better still, 'fair trade and organic' to differentiate themselves in the market.

You can be sure they're not paying first world prices for third world goods, but there is a better chance that the workers get paid a living wage, the plantation owners have to stick to the law regarding the employment of children etc. Some fair trade companies are genuinely owned and managed by what I'll describe as people with a moral conscience - they're in it for human rights and the joy of profit on the side.

Other fair trade companies, or multinational companies with fair trade brands, have realised if they take the hit on the expense of having their own people on the ground in the third world, they still get a cheap product but they can put a mark-up on their end produce because they can label it 'fair trade'.

When I lived in the south east of England, I saw a peculiar rift between shoppers, deepened by factors like the celebrity chef, a social conscience, food snobbery and ethical shopping values.

Organic produce was becoming more and more popular. People who made the health choice of no more pesticides were usually sufficiently educated and had enough disposable income to also soothe their social consciences, buying organic and free range chickens and meat alongside fair trade produce from the third world.

At the other end of the scale, the 'pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap' supermarket chains were also doing a roaring trade in frozen bulk products, made from heavily processed ingredients. The quiet middle ground of people who shop the way we would've shopped in the late 1980s, e.g. just buying what were then 'known and trusted' brands (Bisto, Cadbury, Bachelors etc.) and not worrying too much about where it came from, have been left behind in the rush for market share.

There is an argument to say that any advancement in third world workers' rights and conditions achieved through fair trade buying agreements has to be better than the alternative.

Take a look at the Wiki page for more arguments for and against - it also has some stats on financial figures and market percentages for fair trade goods last year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_trade

faceman

Thanks MJD, thats exactly what i was looking for.

The Sweeper

NP - it's worth adding that the actual ethos of the Fairtrade mark is to support marginalised communities and small growers to be independent and form their own small businesses so my 'large coffee plantation' analogy may not be entirely accurate in most cases.

That's also one of the reasons the Fairtrade mark gets slated - it's accused of being a form of anti-market over-subsidised hand-holding.

Minder

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

NP - it's worth adding that the actual ethos of the Fairtrade mark is to support marginalised communities and small growers to be independent and form their own small businesses so my 'large coffee plantation' analogy may not be entirely accurate in most cases.

That's also one of the reasons the Fairtrade mark gets slated - it's accused of being a form of anti-market over-subsidised hand-holding.

MAJD - Nothing wrong with your coffee plantation analogy at all. I remember some years ago being approached to sign a petition by the ActionAid group to help prevent an American Corporation being allowed to grow genetically modified coffee.

Coffee beans are grown all over the third world by small freeholders. The coffee beans ripen at different times, making it difficult for the large corporations to exploit a crop season. The GM coffee would be triggered to ripen by spraying with a chemical. If allowed to proceed, the larger corporations would buy up all the freeholders, grow GM coffee and harvest all at the same time. Aside from price fixing through market share, the ex-freeholder is now employed to pick coffee for a short period during the year - and left with no source of income for the remainder of the year.

Now we have the argument of good and proper food labelling. If our food standards agencies are allowing the supermarkets and food producers to be creative with the information that is provided on our food, we are not in a position to make an informed decision about where our food comes from. If the American Corp is granted the rights to grow GM coffee, and the food labelling doesn't inform the consumer that the coffee is GM, then the poor coffee farmer has no chance of ever getting a fair deal.

I signed the petition. Months after being contacted by Actionaid, I received a phonecall from them asking for a donation. I asked the caller about the petition and the campaign to stop GM coffee. He had no clue what I was talking about. Apparently Actionaid and other large charities use contract call centres to canvass for donations. These call centres may be working for a charity one week and a bank the next.

Anyway, I have being buying fairtrade coffee for years. The social conscience thing but also because I like the variety and choice of bean available from the central american growers. Which country produces the second largest export of coffee in the world ? Vietnam

faceman

Minder wrote:

I signed the petition. Months after being contacted by Actionaid, I received a phonecall from them asking for a donation. I asked the caller about the petition and the campaign to stop GM coffee. He had no clue what I was talking about. Apparently Actionaid and other large charities use contract call centres to canvass for donations. These call centres may be working for a charity one week and a bank the next.

i dont like the idea of my charity donations going to fund a call centre.