Co-ops vs. Corporations

As Kat touched on in her first post, there are many different types of fair trade, and this can get extremely confusing for the consumer, not to mention disheartening if or when you realize that the "fair trade" coffee you were buying may not have been traded all that fairly. The website equalexchange.org has a lot of good information to educate consumers under the "our co-op" tab. What is especially exciting to me about fair trade is that I know that it not only gives small farmers a chance to be a part of the world marketplace, but it gives me a chance to be a part of that, too. By saying "I will only buy fairly traded coffee," I am saying that my caffeine fix is not worth someone else's suffering.
This coffee chain illustration from the website provides a simple way to understand the differences between fair trade coffee (through Equal Exchange's model) and conventionally traded coffee. Basically, there are less middlemen to deal with, thus the farmers are able to receive higher wages.

The World Fair Trade Organization lays out the 10 Principles that Fair Trade Organizations must follow at wtfo.com. These principles are:
1. Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers
2. Transparency and Accountability
3. Fair Trading Practices
4. Payment of a Fair Price
5. Ensuring No Child Labor and Forced Labor
6. Commitment to Non-Discrimination, Gender Equity and Freedom of Association
7. Ensuring Good Working Conditions
8. Providing Capacity Building
9. Promoting Fair Trade
10. Respect for the Environment

Organizations like Equal Exchange have found that one of the only ways to truly uphold these principles is to work with small farmers and co-ops rather than large plantations and corporations.

One thing to look out for are Fair Trade USA products, which was formerly TransFair USA, which has left the international fair trade system (Fair Trade International/Fair Trade Labeling Organization, on the web at fairtrade.net), lowered standards, eliminated small farmers, and invited large-scale plantations into their dealings, according to Equal Exchange's website. You might ask "Why not deal with large-scale plantations?" and Equal Exchange comes to the rescue again. Small co-ops are run democratically; large plantations reinforce existing hierarchies. As the website states, "Buying from plantations, even ones that sincerely do right by their workers, largely reinforces long-standing power dynamics." Not only that, but large plantations sometimes even try to put co-ops out of business, while co-ops do just what the name implies - they cooperate with other business, as well as promote cooperation within their own businesses.

 Equal Exchange encourages people to sign this public statement which says that it is NOT OK to let these large plantations into the Fair Trade marketplace. We encourage people to look out for coffee products that are produced by Equal Exchange, and K-State students, you're in luck! CornerStone Coffee and Bakery, located in the Jardine Marketplace on campus carries only Equal Exchange coffee products. The next blog post will contain more information on this option for students.

Excited to learn more,

Laura