An email correspondence between Robbie, a would-be fair trade activist, and myself regarding the current dilemmas surrounding fair trade certification. For all who’ve been discouraged by the disagreements regarding the direction of fair trade certification, I hope this is helpful.

Please do put in your 2 cents in the comments, letting both of us know about your agreements, disagreements, etc –
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From Robbie to green LA girl on 7/2/06:

Hey,
I’m a student and heavy coffee drinker from Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve been looking at starting a campaign in Auckland to have all the Cafe’s here switch to Fairtrade coffee, by both getting coffee drinkers to start asking for it in cafes, and by promoting it with roasters, suppliers & retailers. But reading through some of the discussions on your blog (and others) I’m wondering whether this would really make a difference to the communities of growers.

Is the Fairtrade scheme really not enough to get growers beyond mere subsistence? or is it simply that we could be doing better? (which in my opinion will probably always be the case).

If Fairtrade is not enough to allow growers to develop and improve both their coffee and their living standards then no amount of people buying Fairtrade coffee will help, right?

Thanks,
Robbie

PS. I’m still just beginning to start learning about Fairtrade ideas & practices etc. So I figured I might as well ask some people who’ve been at this a little longer :D
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From green LA girl to Robbie on 7/2/06:

Hey Robbie –

Thanks for your email! It’s great to hear from you — and especially to get such an honest email about where you are in terms of the movement :) I know this note will be long, but I hope it’ll be helpful — and I encourage others to put in their 2 cents in the comments –

The fair trade movement is experiencing some serious growing pains at the moment. On the one hand, we have small, mission-driven companies that have been doing fair trade for YEARS — basically CREATING the movement to begin with — getting upset by fair trade certification programs not having the strict standards these companies stuck with to ensure equitable trade.

On the other hand, we have the opportunity to take fair trade to the mainstream (i.e. beyond “niche” markets of small companies and the activists who know about them) with bigger companies — but those companies are obviously not mission-driven; they’re just getting into the fair trade movement cuz customers are giving them hell for their current abusive corporate practices.

It’s become a rather contentious battleground. Even looking at the strictly mission-based companies, some feel that the definition of fair trade’s been watered down to something meaningless, and have chosen to abandon fair trade certification altogether (this group includes Just Coffee, Dean’s Beans, and more recently, Intelligentsia). Other mission-based companies (such as Equal Exchange and Taylor Maid Farms) are trying their darndest to work within fair trade certification, strengthening and improving the certification criteria to keep it (or make it more) meaningful.

Then of course, we have many activists and NGOs who are really focused on pushing fair trade into the mainstream — an effort that often means pushing big corporations to join the movement. In this milieu, whenever a new big company joins in, there’s some bickering in the community: We’ll get some people rejoicing over the victory, while others cry greenwash and predict a watering down of the fair trade criteria.

On top of that, we have to contend with the fact that we still live in a capitalist society. It’s at this point where things get really murky. For ex, there is a fear on the part of mission-based companies that when big corps join in the fair trade movement, it’ll be tougher for the small companies to compete. In my most pessimistic moments, I then wonder: Is this mission-based company questioning fair trade certification because it’s really convinced that big corps will ruin fair trade? Or is the lil company just trying to preserve (or increase) its profits?

My feeling is that it’s mostly the former, with a tinge of the latter — The two are pretty much impossible to separate, in my view. But, for better or for worse, the people most knowlegeable, and often most committed, to fair trade principles are the people running these mission based companies.

Okay — So to answer your questions more directly: Fair trade — and more specifically, fair trade certification — DOES make a difference. There have been many, MANY instances that’ve proven that this is the case. Many communities have been utterly transformed through fair trade certification.

But! This is not the case everywhere. One of the main reasons why is the point Geoff of Intelligentsia (the dude quoted in Tonx) mentions: The baseline price for fair trade coffee ($1.26 for conventional and $1.41 for organic) is the same — everywhere. Meaning, this baseline price, in some communities, is like a total windfall. In others, it’s — as you fear — subsistence level.

Now some would argue that this subsistence level is a helluva lot better than the starvation level, which is pretty much where coffee prices were before for non-fair trade farms. But I think many of us activists would agree that substistence level’s just not good ’nuff.

The big question is — what does an activist do with this kind of conundrum? Does she decide to wash her hands of fair trade certification altogether, condemning it for allowing farmers to remain at the subsistence level? Or does she decide to work to make those fair trade certifications better — perhaps pushing for baseline prices that take the economic situations of individual countries or communities into more careful consideration, for ex?

I choose the latter, and this is why — I first learned about fair trade through TransFair USA, the org that provides fair trade certification for products in the US. Since then, I’ve become aware of more of the nuances of fair trade — that the label isn’t the end-all, albeit a good starting point. That said, without the TFUSA label, I would’ve prolly never even heard of fair trade, never become an activist.

Despite Tonx’s rather negative take on the naivete of fair trade activists, I think that whatever “dumbing down” of the meaning of fair trade happens at the level of the individual. If someone decides to take a phrase like “fair trade” and apply it solely to the TFUSA label — Well, who’s at fault there?

I DO think that TFUSA could do a better job of clarifying what exactly the fair trade certification label stands for. That said, I also think that many activists, after hearing about fair trade, will actually go and do a lil research themselves. I mean, that’s what I did.

In this day and age, most people google their shit. And if you google “fair trade coffee los angeles,” the top return’ll be a Fair Trade LA page, written by yours truly. My own site’s the 9th on the list, and — considering the fact that I prominently talk about the challenges facing fair trade — I’d like to think I’m doing my part to provide a more in-depth view into what fair trade certification is today.

I agree completely that — as some of the mission-based companies say — the consumer should ask more questions, should really delve into getting the deets on where they’re buying their stuff (coffee or whatever), and why. But as a girl turned activist girl — how’s a gal supposed to take her first step into switching paradigms (from “conventional” to fair trade) when there’s nothing to tell her that there IS another paradigm at hand, that there IS something she can do — however small — to change the world around her?

For the novice, the rhetoric of some of the mission-based companies — however well meaning or “correct” — can be very, very daunting. It can seem like a special club that only the uber-activist hipsters can be, um, hip to. Yes, many of the mission-based companies are happy to talk — but it does take some level of courage and knowledge before a consumer can even begin to ask the “right” questions. And not all of us are already working for Oxfam.

This, I believe, is the reason why even Geoff of Intelligentsia says “I still support the existence of Fair Trade, and most certainly believe in its goals.”

And it’s why I think that it “is simply that we could be doing better,” as you wondered — though I’m not sure that it’ll ever be simple :P

My fear, as a consumer and activist, is that there’ll be people who hear the “doom and gloom” story of the probs with fair trade certification before they have a chance to actually engage with the issues and find out more about them. As we know with the way the climate crisis is currently perceived, a LOT of people go straight from complete ignorance about these pressing issues, to complete apathy (as in “we’re already fucked, so my actions mean nothing, so I’ll keep driving my hummer) — and never delve into the action phase to actually DO something about the problem.

I’m really hoping this doesn’t happen with fair trade. I’d hate for someone like you to hear about the shortcomings of fair trade certification at the get go, then decide that they may’s well drink crappy Folgers, cuz buying fair trade won’t really make a difference.

Robbie — It’s super exciting for me to get emails from other activists; I encourage you to keep being an activist! :) Yes, I certainly do think that educating people about fair trade, and working on a fair trade movement, is a giant step in the right direction.

That doesn’t mean that we should stop thinking or stop asking questions, but it does mean that we can engage others to know that they CAN make a difference in shaping the world around them, that their actions and decisions DO matter, both in the short term and the long.

Please do keep in touch, and let me know your thoughts –

Sincerely,
Siel

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