"Fair" Trade Coffee
The trend of fair-trade coffee – “coffee that helps you sleep better” – has taken ‘conscious consumers’ by storm (Oxfam). Fair Trade allegedly ensures that small coffee farmers are not exploited for throwaway prices by corporations. It probably derives from the long association of coffee with exploitation. All UM dining halls offer fair-trade, organic coffee.
Still, debate continues over whether Fair Trade achieves its admirable goals. Large corporations are now the main benefactors of fair-trade practices. Gavin Fridell notes that fair trade seems to be a “token commitment” act “designed to boost the image of the corporation...and to quiet its critics while enhancing the bottom line” (Narváez). Dustin Kubas, assistant manager of Espresso Royale on Ann Arbor’s South University, answered questions about his perceptions of fair trade. Says Kubas, “It probably predates me working here, but organic, fair trade has become a little more important to people.” He estimates that Espresso Royale has been selling Fair Trade Coffee for more than five years, but people don’t really ask about it while ordering. Espresso Royale does promotions with Crop To Cup and is currently selling two-dollar buttons to plant trees in Haiti. Admitting that his understanding of Fair Trade is “minimal,” Kubas commented that as far as he comprehends, “We’re buying from the farmer, we’re not buying from the company that pays the farmer very little for their beans.” Overall, he supports Fair Trade. However, Professor Jones tore down the guilt-free illusion that Fair Trade, in her opinion, elicits: “Fair Trade. Fair trade makes me feel better because my entire life is premised around the exploitation of others as a middle-class North American. Fair trade seems important because it makes me feel less guilty about my profound privilege on the planet. It seems like it could be good if it is also bringing benefits and resources and power and possibility for people on the other side of the fair trade equation, or in the chain that results in the coffee that’s in my cup every morning.” Says Jones, “I’m a little, cyncial? Skeptical? But what would the answer be? We shouldn’t drink coffee at all? I’m not mad if I see the coffee is Fair Trade, but if it’s not, that’s okay. I never even ask the question. Imagining that individual consumers are the answer to huge structural, highly-integrated systems, global in their scale, corporate at their core... that’s why it feels a little bit like an illusion. If I drank fair-trade coffee it doesn’t quite fix the problem. I don’t want that to assuage my discomfort about privilege, recognizing I have no deep commitment to giving up my privilege. I’m not prepared to give up my health care or Blue Cross Blue Shield. Human rights would require a huge reordering and a deep compromise. Stop with the Fair Trade because it makes us feel better, and we have no right to feel better. We should spend our whole lives working against that. It’s a terrible world and we’re sitting at the top of it.” |
Should you support Fair Trade?
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Works Cited:
"Fair Trade Certified." Numi Organic Tea. Numi Inc. & Worldpantry.com, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Lewis, Martin W. "Hot, Caffeinated, and Expanding: The Global Geography of Coffee, Tea, and Yerba Mate." GeoCurrents. GeoCurrents.info,
31 July 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Narváez, Guillermo. “Fair Trade Coffee: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Market-Driven Social Justice,” Business History Review 82.3 (2008): 626-
628, accessed March 18, 2015.
"Oxfam Intermon Fair Trade Coffee: "The Coffee That Helps You Sleep Better" Print Ad by Kitchen, Madrid." Creative Advertising &
Commercials Archive. Awarded Ads Database. Lixil Graphics Ltd., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
"Fair Trade Certified." Numi Organic Tea. Numi Inc. & Worldpantry.com, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Lewis, Martin W. "Hot, Caffeinated, and Expanding: The Global Geography of Coffee, Tea, and Yerba Mate." GeoCurrents. GeoCurrents.info,
31 July 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Narváez, Guillermo. “Fair Trade Coffee: The Prospects and Pitfalls of Market-Driven Social Justice,” Business History Review 82.3 (2008): 626-
628, accessed March 18, 2015.
"Oxfam Intermon Fair Trade Coffee: "The Coffee That Helps You Sleep Better" Print Ad by Kitchen, Madrid." Creative Advertising &
Commercials Archive. Awarded Ads Database. Lixil Graphics Ltd., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.