That was the question asked at the first session I attended at the Equal Exchange summit. As a group, we were given a very specific task – to finish the sentence “Fair trade success means….†with an answer that included at least one number.
A tough task, yes?
The workshop, titled “Volume: Enter the Giants — Volume, Values, & Viability,†asked all the hard questions: How much volume is enough? What kind of fair trade volume has the most value to the movement? What is the role of corporations in the fair trade market?
Tom Hanlon Wilde of Equal Exchange kicked things off with a quick presentation that brought everyone up to speed on where fair trade is right now, in terms of numbers. The most interesting part, to me, was finding out what company was doing big chunks of fair trade coffee. [pic of Tom Hanlon Wilde from the Provender Alliance]
As of 2005, Equal Exchange and Cooperative Coffees – both 100% fair trade peeps — made up 13% of all fair trade coffee in the US (10% and 3%, respectively). Two publicly traded corps also had huge chunks: Green Mountain had 13%, and Starbucks, 26% [Update, 7/18/06: Rodney tells me Starbucks’ 2005 US fair trade coffee market share — measured by imports — is actually 22%. The previous 26% figure apparently failed to account for Starbucks’ fair trade volume outside the US.]. All others – about 300 individual companies – made up the remaining 48%.
After Tom, Santiago Paz Lopez stepped up to give a presentation. Santiago’s the general manager for CEPICAFE, a nonprofit that represents a number of fair trade coffee and sugar cane co-ops in Peru; he took the opportunity to talk about the goals and challenges of CEPICAFE. [pic of Santiago Paz Lopez from Equal Exchange]
What struck me most in Santiago’s presentation was the thoughts he shared on the role of the coffee co-ops and co-op orgs. He said that while people seem to want to hear that co-ops are collectively building schools and hospitals and such, that CEPICAFE saw its role somewhat differently.
Via a translator (thus the grammatical issues), he said: “For us, that’s not the role as an organization. Our role is to meet the basic needs of producers. And the basic needs of the producers are food, to make sure their students can go to school, and that they can more or less deal with the issue of health.â€
Santiago’s take was that the bigger infrastructure issues needed to be dealt with at the governmental level — “The state has to intervene to solve these issues.†He pointed out that CEPICAFE and others could and should engage politically to get the government to address these issues, but said that coffee co-ops didn’t have anything close to the money or power of the government to adequately deal with these larger societal needs.
Of course, the work of orgs like CEPICAFE and other fair trade orgs still do have larger social repercussions. “Impacts are not just economic impacts. They are about social and cultural impacts,†Santiago said.
“Before being a producer was considered to be the 4th class of citizen, the lowest thing, the worst….†But with fair trade, “More than anything they [the coffee producer] can take back their dignity and feel good about what they do….â€
Totally inspiring. We then split up into 3 groups to try and put together answers to the questions that the workshop started out with. That, in a post soon to come –
Update: Here’s the post ’bout the discussion in the small group I was in.
July 17th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Siel,
One of the most profound benefits of Fair Trade for farmers isn’t the fair trade price–it’s the strengthening of small farmer cooperatives who’re able to be a voice for those who were previously, as Santiago said, “4th class citizens.”
CEPICAFE has been very politically active advocating on behalf of its 6,000 + members throughout its history but especially in the last year. Recently they held a political demonstration saying that their contribution to development and exports in Peru is disproportionate to the amount of government services their area is receiving. You can read their press release here: http://www.equalexchange.com/farmer-partner/news
Here’s a note from my colleague, Tom Hanlon Wilde, commenting on these huge non-economic benefits of fair trade:
“With the CEPICAFE march and demand letter, you are seeing two waves of grassroots empowerment and democracy, one flowing on top of the other. The members of CEPICAFE are organized and vocal in demanding government services. Farmers organized in co-ops can demand better roads, better schools, and agricultural extension services. This marks a very positive development, especially in a nation with a 500-year legacy of top-down patronage (and decidedly anti-grassroots activism). We should be proud to work with any farmers so organized, but in the case of CEPICAFE we were their second ever customer and one of their co-founders Arnaldo Neira wrote in his August 2002 article, “The little window [of fair trade] was a tremendous door for the small-scale coffee producers of the Piuran Sierra . . . . Establishing relationships with importers such as GEPA of Germany and Equal Exchange of the USA, among others, importers who are known for the high quality of the coffee they sell, was a calling card for CEPICAFE. “
The second wave of democratic hopefulness imbedded in this article is the fact that there was someone to whom to send the letter CEPICAFE wrote. For 500 years all governmental decisions were made by rulers in Lima or the appointees those rules but in the field. Even when we first visited CEPICAFE in 1996, local elementary school teachers were hired by federal government appointees. One got to vote for only three elected officials – president, congressional deputy, and departmental legislative deputy. All other state and local officials were appointed – city councilors, mayors, sheriff, judges, department senators, national senators, provincial governors, watershed managers, school board-equivalent administrators, etc. In the last five years Peru has undergone a major shift to establish regional governments (each encompassing 2-5 provinces) which are led by elected governors. Local mayors and legislators are also elected positions. So that CEPICAFE could write a demand letter to the regional government and expect a response is an equally significant achievement.
We’ve seen other examples of farmers winning concrete, important benefits for their families because they were organized. We saw this happen with COCLA’s Aquilayoc Coop when they, as a coop, went to the electric company and said, “We’ll install the poles if you string the wires.†That brought light to the town years ahead of schedule.
When we pay fair trade premiums, the income is important. But more powerful is the fact that in having to sit down and democratically decide what to do with the income, cooperatives are giving small scale farmers the space to take control of their own future and build organizations that alter the socioeconomic and political landscape. To me, our small role in those efforts is not just a source of pride, but also of inspiration.”
July 18th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
Hey Julia! Thanks for the comment and the link and the copy of the note from Tom! It’s so inspiring to read about this “democratic hopefulness,” especially living in a country where many are v. apathetic — are perhaps complacent, but not engaged, let alone hopeful.
It’s especially interesting to read about a govt. where too FEW officials are selected via election, cuz at least in LA, we sorta feel that we’re expected to vote for too MANY (i.e. voting for minor positions for which it’s near-impossible to get informed about the difference between the candidates…