Some dissenters claim that the fair trade movement is about do-gooders up to no good. They are wrong.

We may like to root for the underdog and champion the poor and oppressed, but woe betide the little man who manages to stand tall and not just walk, but run. The latest plucky outsider to get too big for its boots is the Fairtrade Foundation, which certifies fair-trade products. As it celebrates Fairtrade Fortnight, there are numerous reasons for it to be pleased. There are now over 1,500 Fairtrade products on sale in the UK, and sales are rising at about 40% a year. (more…)

As consumers in America, we are bombarded every day with different logos from the Nike “Swoosh” to Microsoft’s “Window.” These signs are omnipresent, but there is one to which we are all exposed to whether we are a part of mainstream culture or counterculture. It is a sign recognizable to anyone in Madison who drinks coffee — “Fair Trade Certified.” It is present everywhere, from the bags of coffee we buy at the grocery store to our favorite coffee shop touting its own coffee as “fairly traded,” but the question must be asked: Is fair trade really fair? (more…)

HAS the supermarket trolley dethroned the ballot box? Voter turnout in most developed countries has fallen in recent decades, but sales of organic, Fairtrade and local food—each with its own political agenda—are growing fast. Such food allows shoppers to express their political opinions, from concern for the environment to support for poor farmers, every time they buy groceries. And shoppers are jumping at the opportunity, says Marion Nestle, a nutritionist at New York University and the author of “Food Politics” (2002) and “What to Eat” (2006). “What I hear as I talk to people is this phenomenal sense of despair about their inability to do anything about climate change, or the disparity between rich and poor,” she says. “But when they go into a grocery store they can do something—they can make decisions about what they are buying and send a very clear message.” (more…)

“Ethical” coffee is being produced in Peru, the world’s top exporter of
Fairtrade coffee, by labourers paid less than the legal minimum wage.

Industry insiders have also told the Financial Times of non-certified coffee
being marked and exported as Fairtrade, and of certified coffee being
illegally planted in areas of protected rainforest. (more…)