Fair Trade

[Russell]

Hi everyone!Just started buying and roasting my own coffee beans and I'm having a great time! I would like to start buying Fair Trade coffee. How do REALLY know if beans I am buying are Fair Trade?

 

[CanaCoffee]

If they are 'Fair Trade' coffee then this means they have a Fair Trade certification and will say on the coffee bag, or at least be advertised by the seller as so. All you need to do is ask. However, to know if something is actually traded fairly or not is a different situation. 'Fair Trade' as you know it is still a for-profit company which, while they rise the min payment to the farmers above what coffee is typically bought for without this minimum in place, it still is a very small number (as of April, 2011 the FT price set is: 1.35$ for conventional natural, 1.40$ conventional washed, 1.65$ organic natural, and 1.70$ organic washed) compared to the actual retail value of coffee (around 10-14$/lb in the US). And Fair Trade still works for profit so they still take part of this value for themselves in order to try and give more to others. i.e. it costs about 3,500USD a year for one co-op in Laos to keep their certification and this money of course goes to the organization 'Fair Trade'.

In a situation where farmers of coffee make pennies and the 'middle men', buyers, auctions, certifications, and other organizations like Fair trade take money and value away in order to make more money for these 'middle men'.

So, it dosen't seem you will be able to know for sure. Hopefully this can change and we as consumers, can start to communicate and work with the farmers and communities themselves...

 

[wdrk7]

Talk to real farmer like us and you will know what is fair trade. Agents coming to our farm and offering us prices 20-30% lower then current market prices and telling us they are from fair trade group . They are just middleman trying to creat some marketing to sell more .

 

[youronlinecoffee]

Fair Trade Coffee is the way to go when drinking coffee. Generally Fair Trade Coffee is organic and much more ethical than the coffee grown for the larger coffee users. Fair Trade Coffee is hand selected and grown with care. You get a better cup of coffee and good about the cup of coffee you brew and drink.