Fairtrade Roasters

[con771]

Just starting a new roasting company and am wondering the benefits to a Fairtrade certification. Of course, starting out costs are very important but so are my customers, suppliers and the growers... Anyone have any info to add about the sales, costs, ethics, etc...?

 

[PinkRose]

Hello "con771"

Welcome to the Coffee Forums website.

If you do a search on this Forum (top right corner of your screen) you will see some topic areas where Fair Trade coffee has been discussed.

Here is one topic area that you may find interesting.

http://www.coffeeforums.com/forum/c...trade-coffee-really-fairly-traded-coffee.html

Rose

 

[John P]

These are the facts:

FairTrade is a FOR profit company. (Really, you need to know nothing more than this)

Quality of product is not a factor in the price received by the farmers. This means member farmers who produce low quality coffee can get a price their product does not deserve and member farmers who produce excellent, stunning coffees do not get paid the high price their coffees would command outside of the FT umbrella.

FT prices are based on commodity coffee prices .

The Premiums paid (subsidies) by the buyers to be certified, about 20 cents, go to the FT cooperative, they are not passed on to the farmers.

If you actually care about the farlmers AND not duping your customers, find a reputable importer - Mercanta, Cafe Imports, Zephyr, Atlas, ... to name a few. Or a reputable Direct Trade sourcer/roaster like Counter Culture, Intelligentsia, Barefoot, Stumptown or similar. They can tell you price paid for the coffees they carry. And/Or donate to a charity such as CoffeeKids.

Some great coffee happens to be Fair Trade, but unless you know you are paying above Fair Trade prices for it, your buyer/importer are probably "questionable".


Honestly, if your buyer is paying anywhere near FT prices, I would seriously question the coffees and their ethics. If you source your coffees based on quality, and pay for that quality, the farmers will always receive above FT prices. Most non-commodity brokers are paying well above FT prices.

 

[expat]

Ditto what John P said. In fact I always ditto what John P. says . . . smart guy who's obviously a cum laude graduate from the venerable School of Hard Knocks.

 

[John P]

expat,

The check is in the mail. :grin: