More on the Fair Trade Coffee Issue

While on the web today, I did a little more research on the issue of fair trade coffee. Fair trade can be defined as setting an artificially higher price for a given unit of coffee. The higher premiums are then paid to the growers. According to Wikipedia, fair trade coffee accounted for less than one per cent of the total amount of coffee produced in the world. Even so, studies have demonstrated that fair trade "strengthened producer organizations" improved returns to those producer organizations and generally improved the quality of life for those organizations.

Nevertheless, until the "big four" coffee producers (Kraft, Proctor and Gamble, Sara Lee and Nestle) get on board the fair trade ship, it is unlikely that significant change will occur. This applies equally to the farming methods being used, which are generally using techniques that tend to have a negative effect on the natural environment.


If fair trade practices ever gain in popularity, there might come a day when small-scale farmers can really have a chance at making a decent life while at the same time doing less damage to the environment. The issue of course will be how much consumers will be prepared to pay for their coffee -- whether they are fair trade, environmentally friendly or not.