Green Mountain Cafe – The Green Mountain Coffee Blog

As daylight dims and diminutive ghosts and goblins prepare for Halloween’s curious traditions, so, too, does twilight fall on the our annual celebration of Fair Trade Month.

The purpose of Fair Trade Month is, of course, to celebrate the achievements of the Fair Trade movement, and to encourage consumers to shop for, and to ask for Fair Trade certified products: coffee, tea, sugar, bananas, grapes, pineapples, rice and — what every little monster hopes to find in his or her trick-or-treat bag — chocolate.

Still, a great many folks have still to hear about Fair Trade. And some who *have* heard of Fair Trade are under the impression that it’s “just another marketing thing.” So it’s not only fair — it’s important — to answer the fundamental question: is Fair Trade really fair? Is it equitable? Is it a viable solution to the price crisis that has plagued coffee for years? In a nutshell — Fair Trade: trick, or treat?

The ideals of Fair Trade are simple and well-intended: break the cycle of poverty by offering farmers a price floor and a ready marketplace for their products, and in exchange win assurances of eco-friendly and sustainable farming practices. In theory this cycle should lead to an upward spiral of increasing economic stability and product quality, and in practice, it does. There are a great many success stories that can be told…

• …of the coffee farmers in Colombia who have been empowered to make a stand against drug lords — their lands now produce coffee that earns them a livable wage, they no longer need to grow coca.
• …of the farmers on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala who have been able to distribute medicine to the growers’ children and improve their nutrition, eliminating what had been an appalling infant mortality rate. (Those children are now enjoying a newly expanded school, too, which I felt privileged to visit.)
• …of the farmers in Huatusco, Mexico who have reforested their surrounding lands, bringing their ecosystem back from the edge of destruction, and in so doing have earned organic certification bonuses.
• …of the cooperative in East Timor that has not only built clinics and schools, but served as an island of calm and refuge as lands around it erupted in civil war.
• … of the cooperative in the highlands of Aceh, Sumatra, that not only has been able to offer micro-loans to its members to fund new and diverse business, but was able to donate tons of food to tsunami victims in Banda Aceh, to build and repair 34 homes, and fund continuing support for orphans and widows in the community following the disaster.

Fair Trade certified cooperatives build not only increased wealth and operational capacity for their members, but also social, cultural, health and educational support networks. It’s these networks that will ultimately prove to be the real force for sustainability in these coffee communities… Fair Trade price supports simply served as a springboard.

In short, Fair Trade has proved a positive force for change in coffee-growing communities around the world, and increasingly in coffee shops, college campuses and family kitchens across these United States. Speaking of which, you better check your chocolate supply… there’s ghouls due at your door most any moment now.

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