In this series, coffee companies share what they think the top 3 things that needed to be changed about fair trade certification are. Read the whole series here.

Larry’s Beans — which is part of Cooperative Coffees, 17 fair trade roasters in the US and Canada that’ve established fair trade relationships with 9 coffee co-ops in 7 different producer countries — Is a 100% organic and fair trade coffee roaster that’s been getting into biodiesel :) Like Dean’s Beans, Larry’s Beans left the TransFair USA roster a few years ago, due to unresolved issues with the way TFUSA was doing certification in the US.

The top 3 things Larry believes needs to change:

1. TransFair USA needs to be a promoter or a certifyer, but not both. Larry said that the TransFair seal could serve as an umbrella mark, much like the USDA organic seal, with TFUSA in the marketing and promotion business. Then, TFUSA could develop a list of criteria and “come up with a list of certifiers” who can do the actual certifying. Larry described TFUSA as an inefficient monopoly; separate certifiers, Larry said, could de-monopolize fair trade certification, thereby making it more efficient and trustworthy.

2. Differentiate the fair trade label for the 100% fair trade companies. Like Dean’s Beans, Larry said that a solid structure of demarkating committed companies is necessary. Because the same certification seal’s given to products from both 100% fair trade companies and companies offering just 1 fair trade product, consumers can often get confused. “It’s easy to trick consumers into voting for something they didn’t mean to vote for,” Larry said. “We need to minimize chances of that happening.”

3. Start a more inclusive and diverse dialogue to parlay this good will into other commodities. Larry says he thinks TFUSA, given the momentum behind fair trade certification, could be more active in recognizing the bigger movement, starting more dialogues, and making fair trade bigger. “It sometimes seems like they have blinders on,” Larry said. “I think we are missing some serious opportunities.”

This last point Larry made was v. difficult for me to understand — I kept trying to ask him to clarify, but this was as clear as we could get. There seems to be 2 ideas at work here: involving more voices in the discussions, and moving more quickly to take advantage of opportunities. The two, to me, seem a bit at odds, as involving more voices generally takes more time, while moving quickly means less time. The former argument — for more diverse and varied discussions — is one I hear pretty often, while the latter is not. After all, TFUSA’s been certifying all sortsa stuff these days — from vanilla to spices to fruits and flowers….

Of course, I understand Larry’s frustrations: “Why can’t I buy fair trade underwear?” he asked me, rhetorically. Me: “Dude, I can help you with that.” A fair trade boy’s shopping roundup coming soon –

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