SOC317H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter reading: Commodity Market, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, Labor Rights
Document Summary
The problem with fair trade coffee reading notes. Fair trade certification is designed to provide economic premiums for social and environmental investments - important for farmers who have historically received inadequate compensation for their crops. In january 2012, fair trade usa unilaterally altered their coffee sourcing policy to include not just cooperatives of small producers, but also large scale plantations. This new policy has changed the meaning of certification, and may negatively impact the very small-scale farmers fair trade was meant to protect. The guaranteed minimum price created economic stability for producers who would otherwise be paid the new york market price (which fluctuates daily and has gone as low as 40 cents per pound) Fair trade system also provides small loans to producer groups to facilitate improved infrastructure for farms and communities. There is a long standing tension between the founding values of the fair trade movement and the profit-driven ethos of the fair trade market.
