Tag Archives: Fair Trade for All

309. Fair Trade and governance, revisited

2012-10-08 Comments Off on 309. Fair Trade and governance, revisited

The Fair Trade Certification system has been convulsed since Fair Trade USA broke ranks with Fairtrade International more than a year ago, introducing its ambitious Fair Trade for All initiative and changing the rules of the game.  The substance of the decision rankled coops and Fair Trade pioneers.  But what seemed to really unite opposition […]

300. More on The Nation’s coverage of Fair Trade

2012-09-06 Comments Off on 300. More on The Nation’s coverage of Fair Trade

As I reflect more on The Nation’s excellent article on the split in the Fair Trade movement, I am reminded of a product review by Ritual Coffee, the iconic San Francisco roaster, that included this passage:  “Did we once tell you that the Hario Hand Mills were the best hand grinders available? Yes. Are we […]

296. Back to school special: Fair Trade reading list

2012-08-27 Comments Off on 296. Back to school special: Fair Trade reading list

Over the past few years, I have interacted both online and off with university students and faculty who have incorporated Coffeelands blog content into their studies of agroecology, journalism,  sustainable trade, etc.  Of particular interest to university readers has been the current split in the Fair Trade movement caused by Fair Trade USA’s Fair Trade […]

295. The Nation takes a ringside seat at the Fair Trade “brawl”

2012-08-23 Comments Off on 295. The Nation takes a ringside seat at the Fair Trade “brawl”

The Nation magazine, the venerable weekly that has been a progressive standard bearer since the Civil War, has weighed in on the state of the U.S. Fair Trade movement in its 10 September 2012 issue.  In “The Brawl Over Fair Trade Coffee,” The Nation writer Scott Sherman reaches farther and wider than any other coverage […]

290. Em [power] ment

2012-08-01 Comments Off on 290. Em [power] ment

Empowerment is a popular term in the fields of international development and Fair Trade.  It has been mentioned many times in the current debate over changes to the Fair Trade system — including several times on this blog — by people who are both for FT4All and against it: Ed Canty buys Fair Trade Certified […]

288. What we know (and don’t) about the impact of Fair Trade

2012-07-09 Comments Off on 288. What we know (and don’t) about the impact of Fair Trade

As readers of this blog will know, recently we decided to get involved in a Fair Trade for All pilot project in Colombia, in part because we want to understand and document the impacts of Fair Trade on independent smallholder farmers.  As part of our effort to design a strong impact assessment, I have been […]

287. The Fair Trade split — and CRS — in the news

2012-07-05 Comments Off on 287. The Fair Trade split — and CRS — in the news

It is turning out to be a Green Mountain week. On Monday, I published this guest post by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Fair Trade coffee buyer Ed Canty on the company’s approach to the Fair Trade for All pilots with independent smallholder farmers and estates. And today, the Burlington Free Press — the Green Mountain […]

286. Guest post: Ed Canty explains Green Mountain’s approach to FT4All pilots

2012-07-02 Comments Off on 286. Guest post: Ed Canty explains Green Mountain’s approach to FT4All pilots

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters became the world’s largest Fair Trade coffee buyer in 2010, when it purchased over 26 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee.  The person responsible for all those purchases is Ed Canty, the company’s certified coffee buyer.  But Ed isn’t only in charge of Fair Trade coffee buying for GMCR.  He […]

285. The mainstreaming paradox

2012-06-28 Comments Off on 285. The mainstreaming paradox

Fair Trade USA has dramatically expanded the reach and aggregate impact of Fair Trade by aligning certification requirements more closely with conventional market logic and conventional sourcing practices. In the process, it has reduced the average impact of Fair Trade at the individual level. This is the mainstreaming paradox, and a source of discontent among […]

284. Two, three, many Fair Trades

2012-06-27 Comments Off on 284. Two, three, many Fair Trades

The manager of a Fair Trade coffee cooperative in Central America told me recently that Fair Trade USA’s decision to make estates and independent smallholder farmers eligible for Fair Trade Certification is creating another version of Fair Trade — one that has very little to do with his idea of what Fair Trade is all […]