Where Does Fair Trade Coffee Come From?

From All Over the World

Certified Fair Trade is now a global movement. It started in 1988 with coffee and now covers a multitude of commodities, including crafts. Fair Trade coffee is currently being exported by 23 countries around the world. Asia, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, Indonesia and East Timor are growing Fair Trade coffee. The African nations of Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya are doing so as well. Fair Trade is booming in the western hemisphere, with Colombia, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Colombia, El Salvador, Brazil, Mexico, Bolivia, Honduras, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Haiti and Paraguay all producing coffee for the Fair Trade market.

From Developing Nations

Fair Trade coffee is being grown in countries with widespread substandard incomes and living conditions. In the case of coffee, most of the money historically was made by the big companies first, by the governments second, by the marketing middlemen third, and what was left over went to the farmers. The leftovers weren't much. The Fair Trade movement allows the farmers to market their coffee directly to alternative trading organizations. ATOs are usually mission-driven businesses committed to Fair Trade principles rooted in economic and social justice, to be achieved through global cooperation. The Fair Trade movement is allowing more wealth to stay in developing countries.

From the Small Farmers Who Grow the Coffee

Whether they are in East Timor or Mexico, Fair Trade coffee growers are able to market in a more effective way, on a global level. This gives them a higher profile in the market, so that the consumers are more aware of where their coffee comes from. It also lets the farmers become more able to adopt the freedoms and living standards of the countries who purchase their coffee. Previous to Fair Trade practices, farmers on conventional farms received approximately 2 cents from the average $3 latte. Fair Trade allows 30 cents of every $1 to remain in the marketing country, and most of that goes to the farmers.

Resources

• BuyWell 100% Fair Trade Organic Single Origin Sampler
• Fair Trade Federation
• Transfair USA