FAIR TRADE COFFEE

What is Fair Trade Certification?
Much like Organic certification, Fair Trade certification lets you know about the origin of a product. Fair Trade Certified products come from all over the world, but share a common history. Farmers who grow Fair Trade products receive a fair price, and their communities and the environment benefit as well.

Fair Trade is an innovative, market-based approach to sustainable development. It helps family farmers in developing countries gain direct access to international markets and to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace. By learning how to market their own harvests, Fair Trade farmers are able to bootstrap their businesses and receive a fair price for their products. The result: higher living standards, thriving communities and more sustainable farming practices.

The Fair Trade Certified label guarantees:

Fair price: Family farmers receive fair prices for their harvest, and premiums specifically earmarked for community development projects; even higher premiums are given for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.

Environmental sustainability: Harmful agrochemicals and GMOs are strictly prohibited in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers' health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations. Fair Trade farmers protect the land and wildlife habitat by intercropping plant species to improve soil fertility and protect against erosion. Stringent environmental management programs, including water conservation, proper waste disposal and prohibitions on planting in protected areas further encourage environmental stewardship.

Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions and fair wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.

Direct trade: Importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity needed to compete in the global marketplace.

Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide how to invest Fair Trade revenues, and proof of a democratic process is required.

Community development: Fair Trade farmers and workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, healthcare services and quality improvement training.

Examples of community projects include:

• Members of the COSURCA coffee cooperative in Colombia successfully prevented the cultivation of more than 1,600 acres of coca and poppy used to produce illicit drugs.
• In the highlands of Guatemala, indigenous Tzutuhil Mayans in the La Voz cooperative are sending local kids to college for the first time.
• Near Lake Titicaca, in Peru, the CECOVASA cooperative is assisting members from Quechua and Aymara indigenous groups in improving coffee quality and transitioning to certified organic production.
• The CECOCAFEN cooperative in Nicaragua established a reproductive health program providing tests for the virus that causes cervical cancer.

Who is TransFair USA?
Founded in 1998, TransFair USA is the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the United States. It is a non-profit organization, and one of 20 members of FLO, the non-profit umbrella organization based in Bonn, Germany, that sets Fair Trade certification standards. FLO certifies the producers, while TransFair USA and 19 other labeling initiatives worldwide certify the products.

Why is Fair Trade needed today?
Throughout the global south, family farmers follow generations of tradition to cultivate food products we enjoy everyday. Yet many family farmers in the developing world don't receive a fair price for their crops. These isolated rural communities lack direct market access, often selling their premium crops below the cost of production to local middlemen who misrepresent global prices. This cycle of debt forces many to abandon their land and years of agricultural heritage, destroying the social and cultural fabric of these communities. When farming communities in the developing world suffer, the whole world suffers - forced immigration, inferior-quality products and large-scale farming methods that often compromise the environment.

Who benefits from Fair Trade Certification?

• Producers: Since 1999, TransFair USA has helped channel nearly $85 million in additional, above-market revenue to approximately 5 million farmers, workers, their families and community members in 60 developing countries throughout Latin America, Asia and Africa. Beyond receiving a fair, stable price, Fair Trade also empowers producers to invest in their organizations, improve their communities and protect the environment.
• Consumers: Fair Trade Certification enables consumers to "vote with their dollar" by providing an independent guarantee that products were produced and traded fairly. We all lead busy lives, and we want to do the right thing, but we're busy. What if we could make a positive impact just with the purchases we make every day? And not have to go out of our way to do this? That's the compelling proposition of Fair Trade.
• The Earth: Fair Trade Certification requires and rewards environmentally sustainable farming practices that protect farmers' health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations, and provides the resources and technical assistance needed for organic certification.

Who buys Fair Trade?
More and more consumers are not only asking "Is this good for me?" but also "Is this good for others and the environment?" According to a recent study, 90% of Americans say it's important for companies to be mindful of their impact on the environment and society, and 70% say they're more likely to support companies that do. The growth of Fair Trade products proves that consumers are voting for a better world with their purchases, demanding sustainable, ethically sourced goods nationwide.