Feel guilty eating a constant stream of ‘evil products’? You could go Fairtrade.

Published in BBC Olive Magazine May 05

What is Fairtrade?
It’s a labeling system that ensures farmers in poor countries get a fair price for their produce. One that completely covers the cost of production and guarantees them enough income to live, rear their families, and support their local community. When you buy Fairtrade foods, you can be assured the farmer has been paid fairly and treated with dignity.

It’s mostly coffee, right?
Used to be. Not any more. Now over 850 retail products boast the FT kitemark - up from just 150 two years ago. Tea, sugar, honey and coffee are the main ones.

Ok, but what else, apart from snoozy old staples.
Fruit is a biggy - almost half a million Fairtrade bananas are devoured everyday in the UK. Plus pineapples, mangoes, grapes and oranges. Wines, too, from classy brands Friarwood and Ehrmanns. Thandi, a Fairtrade wine, even won the gold medal at the London International Wine Challenge last year. Then there’s coffee-flavoured beer made with Rwandan beans. And of course, Green & Blacks…

Can buying a slab of Maya Gold really make a difference?
The money you spend goes straight back to the farmers and plantation workers. No matter how badly the market is doing, they always receive a fair and stable price for their produce. Profits are piled back into the local community. Workers are guaranteed full human rights, a safe workplace, and the right to form unions. Slave labour is banned.

Slave labour!? Just how bad is the existing system?
How long you got? The current “free trade” system is a bit of misnomer.
Global markets around the world are actually heavily weighted in favour of
the rich Western nations who control and manage them. Poorer countries are blocked out by subsidies and harsh import tariffs. ‘This is totally unfair, ‘says Harriet Lamb, director of the UK Fairtrade Foundation. “For every three pounds the EU gives Mozambique in aid, it takes back one pound due to restriction of access to its sugar market.”

And so the poor get poorer?
Yes – ‘There’s been complete social chaos across coffee producing nations such as Ethiopia and Nicaragua,’ says Lamb. ‘It’s destroying peoples’ lives. Their crops can suddenly cost more to produce than what they can sell them for. They run into serious debt. They lose their land, their homes.’

Okay - but isn’t Fairtrade a bit um, pricey?
Tightwad. Some Fairtrade products are a bit dearer but, for coffee and bananas, the difference is usually miniscule. And besides: ‘A higher minimum price is being paid back to the producers to protect them from surges in the market,’ explains Lamb. ‘And if they have a particular project in mind –a school, health centre, fresh water supplies and what not - farms can add a ’social premium’ to their prices to fund development.’

Any examples?
In Rwanda, for example, Fairtrade systems have empowered women, many widowed by the genocide, to form women-only coffee co-operatives to support their families. Fairtrade coffee from the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province of Aceh is now helping rebuild communities.

But what about other labeling systems I’ve seen?
A popular alternative system is the Rainforest Alliance Certification (the one with the parrots), most often seen on bananas and coffee. Their emphasis is on environment protection. Signed-up producers are offered economic incentives to stop them destroying their environment and conserve their local flora and fauna.

What’s in it for me?
You know what it’s like. Zooming round Tescos at five minutes to closing. Oops. Before you know it, your trolley’s stacked high with evil products created by exploitative Western conglomerates. At least with Fairtrade and other labeling systems you can identify ethical goods quickly and easily. And be reassured that your money isn’t funding some super-rich corporate villain’s James Bond-alike base out in the Caymans.

But what if I like the taste of evil products?
Actually, ethics have never tasted so good. ‘A lot of consumers think that if their money is going to further a social or environmental cause, that they’re going to have to sacrifice quality and taste,’ says Sabrina Vigilante, Marketing Manager for the Rainforest Alliance. Not so – these days 80% of ethical coffee meets gourmet according to the Specialty Coffee Association of America.

Really? The time I tried Fairtrade coffee I didn’t rate it.
‘You may have tried one coffee, once, five years ago,’ says Harriet Lamb. ‘Now there are hundreds of different varieties. And we would say try them again.’ Besides, many foods often taste better without a bitter garnish of guilt, non?

Sell better, too.
Yes. Supermarkets like to show off their Fairtrade products. Co-op and Asda have their own-label Fairtrade products, including honey ale, caramel-filled chocolate and Ethiopian decaf. Sainsbury’s do a roaring trade in FT coconuts.

Sorry to be a cynic, but isn’t this just bandwagon jumping?
Well, there is a suggestion that exploitative companies can ‘greenwash’ their product range with a token amount of ethical products while the bulk of their ranges remain unethical. Kraft Foods, for instance, conglomerate owners of Kenco coffee, have an ethical coffee. Lavazza, too. Even Starbucks. None are officially “Fairtrade” though. Though some are Rainforest Alliance certified.

Well, what’s wrong that? Isn’t it a start?
Well, critics say Rainforest Certification is cheaper than Fairtrade, which demands just under 2% of the wholesale price as a licence fee. And coffee need only contain 30% certified beans to earn a Rainforest Alliance sticker.

What do Rainforest Alliance say about that?
Rainforest say they’re not out to make enemies. ‘We have a collaborative approach. We work with everyone to help build sustainability at each level of the business and make it a win/win solution for everyone in the chain.’ Farmers under their schemes have certainly seen improvements to their farms, leading to better productivity and profits for individuals and communities.

And Fairtrade’s take?
‘If it doesn’t carry the Fairtrade mark, it isn’t Fairtrade,’ says Harriett Lamb. ‘And our question is, why aren’t they going the whole hog and doing it properly?’

How widespread is Fairtrade now?
Very. Nearly one cup of coffee in five is now Fairtrade in the UK. Entire companies have switched to ethical catering. All the coffee M&S serves in its Revive cafes, for example, is now fully Fairtrade. There are even Fairtrade Towns now.

Towns?
Yeah, it works like this. 1) Your local council passes a resolution supporting Fairtrade, and agrees to serve Fairtrade coffee and tea in all its meetings, offices and canteens. 2) local shops, cafes and caterers stock up with Fairtrade products. 3) Estate agents, hairdressers, churches and schools do the same. 4) a local Fairtrade steering group forms to ensure continued commitment to its Fairtrade town status. Bristol has recently met all the criteria and became the largest Fairtrade zone in the country. Manchester, apparently, is next.

Wow, it’s really happening.
Yeah. More than five million people - farmers, workers and their families – across 49 developing countries have now signed up to the kitemark. Oxfam give it the thumbs-up: ‘It gives consumers an opportunity to use their purchasing power to tilt the balance, however slightly, in favour of the poor.’

Phew! A ray of hope, for once.
So now you can slide that piece of Green & Blacks Maya Gold into your mouth without the tiniest pang of guilt. Now, doesn’t that feel good…?

originally published in Oliver Magazine, May 2005