The final data for the CRS Coffeelands Blog for 2011 are in. Google Analyticator tells me that the Fair Trade USA split from Fairtrade International was the year’s top storyline — related posts took the top five spots.
Here are the 10 posts that were most frequently visited in 2011:
1. Paul Rice makes the case for Fair Trade for All.
Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice explains the motivations behind the split from Fairtrade International and the vision for increased social impact under FT4All. (published 6 October 2011)
2. Merling Preza makes the case against Fair Trade for All.
Merling Preza, General Manager of PRODECOOP, a successful Fair Trade cooperative in Nicaragua she helped to create with Paul Rice during the 1980s, explains why FT4All worries her and hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean. (published 9 November 2011.)
Reflections on how FT4All’s proposal to link unorganized smallholder farmers to premium markets may address a perennial challenge for international development agencies like ours as it responds to the current push within the coffee industry to expand the frontiers of sustainable smallholder sourcing. (published 13 October 2011)
4. Fair Trade USA-FLO split: What does it mean for smallholders?
Initial reflections on the big news. (published 30 September 2011)
5. Fair Trade for All: A summary.
An annotated list of all my posts on FT4All. (I later published an updated version of this post. (published 31 October 2011)
6. This is what innovation looks like.
A photo essay on the successful “honey coffee” pilot by the 5 de junio cooperative in Nicaragua. (published 19 January 2011)
7. CAFE trading data and infographics.
Some final price data from our CAFE Livelihoods project that started a good discussion here of assessing impact at origin. (published 9 December 2011)
8. Las Cruces: Making a name for itself.
A coffee biography of the Las Cruces cooperative in El Salvador, which registered some important milestones in 2011, with portraits of some of its members. (published 3 March 2011)
9. Throwing haymakers at Fair Trade.
Fair Trade made headlines in May when a careful study — and some careless coverage — suggested its impacts on smallholders have not been altogether positive. This is the first in a series of posts analyzing the study and the coverage it got in the mainstream press. (published 18 May 2011)
10. More on quality, innovation and risk.
How Equal Exchange is increasing coffee quality in El Salvador while reducing the risk of quality-driven innovation to smallholder farmers. (published 7 December 2010)