Category: Farmer Organizations

211. Fair Trade for All: A summary

2011-10-31 Comments Off on 211. Fair Trade for All: A summary

(NB: An updated version of this summary, including links to new content, was published on 10 November 2011.) A few weeks ago I was pulled into a meeting with Paul Rice from Fair Trade USA that sent this blog swerving off its normal path and into a collision course with controversy.  For the past month […]

210. Bill Fishbein debates Fair Trade for All

2011-10-24 Comments Off on 210. Bill Fishbein debates Fair Trade for All

In 1962, President Kennedy gathered Nobel laureates from across the Western Hemisphere at his residence in Washington.  He welcomed them by saying that the White House had never had before seen such a gathering of intellect, with the possible exception of the evenings when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. Bill Fishbein may be no Thomas Jefferson, […]

209. Bill Fishbein against FT4All

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Bill Fishbein, co-founder of Coffee Kids and founder of the Coffee Trust, published two comments in response to my recent post on FTUSA’s Fair Trade for All vision that were too good not to run as posts unto themselves.  In the first, which appears below, he argues against FT4All in a long and passionate comment […]

208. Bill Fishbein for FT4All

Comments Off on 208. Bill Fishbein for FT4All

Bill Fishbein, co-founder of Coffee Kids and founder of the Coffee Trust, published two comments in response to my recent post on FTUSA’s Fair Trade for All vision that were too good not to run as posts unto themselves.  In the second, which appears below, he suggests that FT4All could generate benefits for smallholder farmers […]

207. Governance matters

2011-10-21 Comments Off on 207. Governance matters

Fair Trade USA recently decided to break with Fairtrade International and change the rules governing Fair Trade Certification. Fairtrade International, for its part, decided to increase the representation of producers in its governing body.  These decisions shine some light on a dimension of the coffee trade that often goes unnoticed and underappreciated — coffee chain governance.  […]

206. Where there is no co-op

2011-10-13 Comments Off on 206. Where there is no co-op

Fair Trade USA set off a swirl of controversy with its recent decision to open the U.S. market for Fair Trade Certified coffee to estates.  Lost in the furor was the fact that Fair Trade for All won’t just open the door to estates.  It will also create new opportunities for unorganized farmers — a measure that has the […]

205. Fair Trade for All: Will a rising tide lift all boats?

2011-10-10 Comments Off on 205. Fair Trade for All: Will a rising tide lift all boats?

In a wide-ranging conversation with CRS staff last week, Fair Trade USA CEO Paul Rice defended the decision to break with FLO and open the U.S. market for Fair Trade Certified coffee to estates.  He suggested there are two theories about what will happen to smallholder farmer cooperatives once estates enter the market.  One theory is the zero-sum view that the estates’ […]

202. CAFE Livelihoods draws to a close

2011-09-30 Comments Off on 202. CAFE Livelihoods draws to a close

Today, the CAFE Livelihoods project that I have been working on in one capacity or another since late 2007 draws to a close.  As we prepare the final project report in the coming weeks, I will share some of the more notable project outcomes here.  Meantime, I want to thank everyone who contributed to the […]

201. Fair Trade USA – FLO split: What does it mean for smallholders?

Comments Off on 201. Fair Trade USA – FLO split: What does it mean for smallholders?

The joint announcement by Fair Trade USA and FLO that the two organizations will be going their separate ways at the end of this year is old news by now.  It is still not entirely clear, however, what the split — and Fair Trade USA’s “Fair Trade for All” initiative, with its promise to “adapt […]

198. Three principles of “harmonized investment”

2011-09-12 Comments Off on 198. Three principles of “harmonized investment”

A little over a year ago, in a post on industry reinvestment at origin, I raised the prospect of “harmonized investment” — complementary, non-overlapping investments in the coffeelands by diverse actors on the coffee chain.  Recent events have inspired me to revisit the idea.