Fair trade commodities are import/export goods that are certified by a fair trade certification organization such as
Fair Trade USA or
World Fair Trade Organization. Such organizations are typically overseen by Fairtrade International. Fairtrade International sets international fair trade standards and supports fair trade producers and cooperatives. Sixty percent of the fair trade market consists of food products such as coffee, tea, cocoa, honey, and bananas. Non-food commodities include crafts, textiles, and flowers. Shima Baradaran of Brigham Young University suggests that fair trade techniques could
child labor. Although fair trade represents only .01% of the food and beverage industry in the United States, it is growing rapidly.
Coffee s being sorted Coffee is the most well-established fair trade commodity. Most Fair Trade coffee is
Coffea arabica, which is grown at high altitudes. Fair Trade markets emphasize the quality of coffee because they usually appeal to customers who are motivated by taste rather than price. The fair trade movement fixated on coffee first because it is a highly traded commodity for most producing countries, and almost half the world's coffee is produced by smallholder farmers. As of 2006, Starbucks was the world's largest purchaser of fair trade coffee. In the producing country, fair trade is marketed only by fair trade cooperatives, while other coffee is marketed by fair trade cooperatives (as uncertified coffee), by other cooperatives and by ordinary traders.
Locations The largest sources of fair trade coffee are Uganda and Tanzania, followed by Latin American countries such as Guatemala and Costa Rica. Large corporations that sell non-fair trade coffee take 55% of what consumers pay for coffee while only 10% goes to the producers. Small growers dominate the production of coffee, especially in Latin American countries such as Peru. Coffee is the fairly traded commodity, and an increasing number of producers are small farmers that own their own land and work in cooperatives. The incomes of growers of fair trade coffee beans depend on the market value of coffee where it is consumed, so farmers of fair trade coffee do not necessarily live above the poverty line or get completely for their commodity. Unsustainable farming practices can harm plantation owners and laborers. Unsustainable practices such as using and unshaded growing are risky. Small growers who put themselves at economic risk by not having could lose money and resources due to fluctuating coffee prices, pest problems, or policy shifts. The effectiveness of Fairtrade is questionable; workers on Fairtrade farms have a lower standard of living than on similar farms outside the Fairtrade system.
Sustainability As coffee becomes one of the most important export crops in certain regions such as northern Latin America, nature and agriculture are transformed. Increased productivity requires technological innovations, and the coffee agroecosystem has been changing. In the nineteenth century in Latin America, coffee plantations began replacing sugarcane and subsistence crops. Coffee crops became more managed; they were put into rows and unshaded, meaning diversity of the forest was decreased and
Coffea trees shortened. As plant and tree diversity decreased, so did animal diversity. Unshaded plantations allow a higher density of Coffea trees, are less protected from wind and lead to more soil erosion. Technified coffee plantations also use chemicals such as fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides.
Consumer attitudes Consumers typically have positive attitudes about products that are ethically made. These products may promise fair labor conditions, protection of the environment, and protection of human rights. Fair trade products meet standards like these. Despite positive attitudes toward ethical products such as fair trade commodities, consumers often are not willing to pay higher prices for fair trade coffee. The attitude-behavior gap can help explain why ethical and fair trade products take up less than 1% of the market. Coffee consumers may say they are willing to pay a premium for fair trade coffee, but most consumers are more concerned with the brand, label, and flavor of the coffee. However, socially conscious consumers with a commitment to buying fair trade products are more likely to pay the premium associated with fair trade coffee. When a sufficient number of consumers begin purchasing fair trade, companies will be more likely to carry fair trade products.
Safeway Inc. began carrying fair trade coffee after individual consumers dropped off postcards asking for it.
Coffee companies The following coffee roasters and companies claim to offer fair trade coffee or some roasts that are fair trade certified: • Anodyne Coffee Roasting Company • Breve Coffee Company •
Counter Culture Coffee •
Equal Exchange •
Keurig •
Just Us! •
Pura Vida Coffee Locations Cocoa is farmed in the tropical regions of West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. In Latin America, cocoa is produced in Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. Much of the cocoa produced in Latin America is organic and regulated by an
Internal control system. Bolivia has fair trade cooperatives that permit a fair share of money for cocoa producers. African cocoa-producing countries include Cameroon, Madagascar, São Tomé and Príncipe, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, and Côte d'Ivoire. Southeast Asia accounts for about 14% of the world's cocoa production. Major cocoa-producing countries are Indonesia, Malaysia, and Papua New Guinea.
Labour Africa and other developing countries received low prices for their exported commodities such as cocoa, which caused poverty to abound. Fair trade seeks to establish a system of direct trade from developing countries to counteract this unfair system. Farmers may join an
Agricultural cooperative that pays farmers a fair price for their cocoa. One of the main tenets of fair trade is that farmers receive a fair price, but this does not mean that the higher price paid for fair trade cocoa goes directly to the farmers. Much of this money goes to community projects such as water wells rather than to individual farmers. Nevertheless, cooperatives such as fair trade-endorsed
Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana are often the only Licensed Buying Companies that will give farmers a fair price and not cheat them or rig sales. Farmers in cooperatives per bag of cocoa beans. These arrangements are not always assured and fair trade organizations can't always buy all of the cocoa available to them from cooperatives. •
Ben & Jerry's (Fairtrade International) •
Cadbury •
Chocolove (Fair Trade USA) •
Divine Chocolate (Fairtrade International) •
Equal Exchange •
Guittard Chocolate Company (Fair Trade USA) •
Theo Chocolate (Ecocert) •
Tony's Chocolonely (Fairtrade International)
Harkin–Engel Protocol The
Harkin–Engel Protocol, also commonly known as the Cocoa Protocol, is an international agreement meant to end some of the world's worst forms of child labor, as well as forced labor in the cocoa industry. It was first negotiated by Senator
Tom Harkin and Representative Eliot Engel after they watched a documentary that showed the cocoa industry's widespread issue of child slavery and trafficking. The parties involved agreed to a six-article plan: •
Public statement of the need for and terms of an action plan—The cocoa industry acknowledged the problem of forced child labor and will commit "significant resources" to address the problem. •
Formation of multi-sectoral advisory groups—By 1 October 2001, an advisory group will be formed to research labor practices. By 1 December 2001, industry will form an advisory group and formulate appropriate remedies to address the worst forms of child labor. •
Signed joint statement on child labor to be witnessed at the ILO—By 1 December 2001, a statement must be made recognizing the need to end the worst forms of child labor and identify developmental alternatives for the children removed from labor. •
Memorandum of cooperation—By 1 May 2002, Establish a joint action program of research, information exchange, and action to enforce standards to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. Establish a monitor and compliance with the standards. •
Establish a joint foundation—By 1 July 2002, industry will form a foundation to oversee efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. It will perform field projects and be a clearinghouse on best practices. •
Building toward credible standards—By 1 July 2005, the industry will develop and implement industry-wide standards of public certification that cocoa has been grown without any of the worst forms of child labor.
Textiles Fair trade
textiles are primarily made from fair trade cotton. By 2015, nearly 75,000 cotton farmers in developing countries had obtained fair trade certification. The minimum price that Fair trade pays allows cotton farmers to sustain and improve their livelihoods. Fair trade textiles are frequently grouped with fair trade crafts and goods made by artisans in contrast to cocoa, coffee, sugar, tea, and honey, which are agricultural commodities. Production of Fairtrade cotton was initiated in 2004 in four countries in West and
Central Africa (
Mali,
Senegal,
Cameroon, and
Burkina Faso). Textiles and clothing are exported from Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Fair trade textile producers are most often women in developing countries. They struggle to meet consumer tastes in North America and Europe. In Nepal, textiles were originally made for household and local use. In the 1990s, women began joining cooperatives and exporting their crafts for profit. Now handicrafts are Nepal's largest export. It is often difficult for women to balance textile production, domestic responsibilities, and agricultural work. Cooperatives foster the growth of democratic communities in which women have a voice despite being historically in underprivileged positions.
Clothing and textile companies The following companies use fair trade production and/or distribution techniques for clothing and textiles: •
American Apparel •
Association for Craft Producers •
Boll & Branch •
BeGood Clothing •
Champa Craft •
Cherie Amie •
Maggie's Organics •
Patagonia •
Oliberté Seafood With increasing media scrutiny of the conditions of fishermen, particularly in Southeast Asia, the lack of transparency and traceability in the
seafood industry prompted new fair trade efforts. In 2014,
Fair Trade USA created its Capture Fisheries Program that led to the first instance of Fair Trade fish being sold globally in 2015. The program "requires fishermen to source and trade according to standards that protect fundamental human rights, prevent forced and child labor, establish safe working conditions, regulate work hours and benefits, and enable responsible resource management."
Flowers Fair trade flowers have been recognised as "an important niche product", with Kenya noted as a significant location for their production. The launch of fair trade flower marketing in the UK, led by retailer
Tesco, raised some certains as to whether the organisation of flower production in Kenya met the conditions needed for fair trade certification.
Luxury commodities There have been efforts to introduce fair trade practices to the
luxury goods industry, particularly for gold and diamonds.
Diamonds and sourcing In parallel to efforts to commoditize diamonds, some industry players launched campaigns to introduce benefits to mining centers in the developing world. Rapaport Fair Trade was established with the goal "to provide ethical education for jewelry suppliers, buyers, first time or seasoned diamond buyers, social activists, students, and anyone interested in jewelry, trends, and ethical luxury." The company's founder,
Martin Rapaport, as well as
Kimberley Process initiators Ian Smillie and
Global Witness, are among several industry insiders and observers who have called for greater checks and certification programs among other programs to ensure protection for miners and producers in developing countries. Smillie and Global Witness have since withdrawn support for the Kimberley Process. Other concerns in the diamond industry include working conditions in diamond cutting centers as well as the use of child labor.
Gold Fairtrade certified gold is used in manufacturing processes as well as for jewellery. The
Fairtrade Standard for Gold and Associated Precious Metals for Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining covers the requirements for gold products to identified as "Fairtrade".
Silver and
platinum are also Fairtrade precious metals. In February 2011, the United Kingdom's Fairtrade Foundation became the first NGO to begin certifying gold under the fair trade rubric.
Pornography or sex industry Fair trade also influences the
porn industry. Feminist writers and academics advocate a pornography industry with mutual consent and no exploiting labor conditions for actors and actresses. == Politics ==