Coffee is the world’s second-largest traded commodity after oil – ever think your morning pick-me-up could have far-reaching effects on global trade and our environment?

Fair Trade is about making changes to conventional trade, which frequently fails to deliver on promises of sustainable livelihoods and opportunities for people in the poorest countries of the world. Poverty and hardship limit people’s choices while market forces tend to further marginalize and exclude them. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation, whether as farmers and artisans, or as hired workers within larger businesses.

Fair Trade seeks to change the terms of trade for the products we buy and is based on a partnership between producers and consumers that allow small-scale farmers to earn a decent living for their efforts. This allows farmers to improve their lives and plan for the future while covering the cost of sustainable production.

When a product carries the Fair Trade mark it means that both producers and traders have met Fair Trade standards. These standards are designed to address the imbalance of power in trading relationships, unstable markets, and the injustices of conventional trade. There are two sets of standards which acknowledge different types of disadvantaged producers. One set applies to small, farmer/producer-owned cooperatives. The other set applies to workers, whose employers pay a decent wage, guarantee the right to join unions, ensure health and safety standards, and provide adequate housing where relevant.

Fair Trade sets guaranteed minimum prices that must be paid to producers. This price aims to ensure that producers can cover their average costs of sustainable production and acts as a safety net for farmers when world markets fall below a sustainable level. When the market is higher than the Fair Trade minimum, traders must buy at the higher price.

Certified Fair Trade coffee guarantees farmers a minimum of $1.26 USD per pound. In 2008, the International Coffee Organization listed the prices paid to growers (not FairTrade) in El Salvador at only $0.86 USD per pound, and growers in Tanzania at only $0.35 USD per pound.  In addition to better wages and a guaranteed Fair Trade price, there is an additional sum of money called the Fair Trade Premium. This money goes into a communal fund for workers and farmers to improve their social, economic, and environmental conditions, bringing them better access to education and health care.

Nature’s Finest Coffees – Certified Organic, Certified Fair Trade

Ethical Bean – Certified Organic, Certified Fair Trade

Sources: www.fairtrade.net, www.ico.org, www.ethicalbean.com

Ethical Bean believes in global responsibility and understands that the decisions we make can change lives and build futures. That’s why they are committed to purchasing only Certified Fair Trade and Certified Organic shade-grown and bird-friendly coffees. Founded in 2003 in Vancouver, BC, Ethical Bean roasts coffee grown with an eye for the environment and for sustainability.