Enlaces News #7 (May 2004)

Chicago Hosts First Annual Fair Trade Fair

This past May 8th, 2004, the Chicago Fair Trade Committee held its first official Fair Trade Fair at the Mexican Fine Arts Museum. Throughout the course of the day over 300 people attended the event, including Illinois Democratic Senatorial candidate, Barack Obama. Celebrated around the world as Fair Trade Day, the event was the culmination of an information-packed week of discussions and presentations around the real-life outcomes of the Fair Trade model and the impact it has had on families, communities, and producers across the world.

The local movement has evolved from an even larger global network of producers, traders, marketers, advocates, and consumers focused on building equitable trading relationships. To highlight these relationships, this year’s Fair Trade events also included guest speakers, Jorge Trujillo president of COSATIN Co-op New Land Agricultural Services in Nicaragua and Oaxacan famers, P. Faustino Garcia Pineda and Librado Osario Pascual, president and vice president of CEPCO, the Oaxacan State Coffee Producers Network. Founded in response to the severe crisis in Mexico’s coffee industry during the late 80s, CEPCO represents over 20,000 small coffee producers from community and regional organizations throughout the state of Oaxaca.

The coffee farmers spoke out about the important role that Fair Trade has played in protecting and sustaining their farms, families, and communities. When they receive a fair price for their coffee, farmers are able to invest in new production methods, grow higher quality products, and provide for their families and their communities. In addition, Fair Trade standards require that any additional earned income also must be invested in community development efforts that seek to improve health and education. The farmers emphasized how Fair Trade has helped in the sustainability of agriculture and coffee production as a viable and dignified way of life, providing an alternative to the region’s greatest social problem - the out-migration of men and families to urban areas or even farther north to the United States.

As Faustino Garcia explained however, “Even with Fair Trade though, many families still struggle to survive and provide food for their families.” Fair Trade certification represents an arduous process that takes up to a year and stretches to three years for organic certification.

Fair Trade puts the producers in direct contact with retailers and consumers. Established floor prices and the absence of middlemen allows producers to receive a fair price for their product. Currently, Fair Trade certified beans command a price of $1.26/lb and $1.49 for beans that are also organically certified. In contrast, the mainstream market, prices typically range from $0.55 to $0.66/lb, not even enough to cover the costs of production. While many people are not willing to spend twice as much for a cup of coffee, many proponents of fair trade coffee contend that the difference in quality is well worth the difference in price. Because of the care put into the cultivation of organic fair trade coffee, the beans shipped from coops like COSATIN and CEPCO to roasting houses across the globe offer consumers an unrivaled coffee experience.

Although the fair trade movement started with handicrafts and artisan work, the universal nature of coffee consumption and the market’s particularly fragile position, make coffee the ideal product to initiate Fair Trade Campaigns across the country. Many organizations and coalitions have chosen to use coffee as an everyday product that can
help the public understand the implications and results of Fair Trade as an economic and social alternative to Free Trade. With the increased growth and success in the Fair Trade market, however, other products are being targeted to be marketed and sold as Fair Trade Certified such as tea, bananas, and chocolate. Fair Trade Bananas are already being sold in Wild Oats stores in the Chicago area. The Chicago Committee for Fair Trade has recently joined a campaign launched by Global Exchange to persuade Candy Giant MM/Mars buy a percentage of their chocolate supply from cacau producers that are fair trade certified.

Still in its early stages, the Chicago Committee for Fair Trade represents a joint effort by local organizations such as Chicago Religious Leadership Network, the Center for Labor, Community Research, Faith in Place, the Nicaraguan Solidarity Network, Intelligentsia Coffee, and Enlaces America. The group has worked closely with Oxfam America to bring the issue to the city’s social landscape. The group hopes that Chicagoans will embrace fair trade as a conscientious consumer choice by making the city the first Fair Trade city in the U.S.

Fair Trade Principles
Fair Trade, as defined by FLO (Fair Trade Labeling organization) is a ‘trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency, and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade.Products become Fair-Trade certified by meeting a particular set of standards that are based on social and economic justice principles:

Payment of a Fair Price: Regardless of the current market price, an agreed upon minimum price is given to producers which allows them not only to cover their costs of production, but also enables them to do it in a way that is socially and environmentally sound.
Safe and Healthy Work Conditions
Capacity Building and Sustainability: Assisting in developing producer independence through sustained relationships with trading partners, skills development, and management and financial assistance (ie. Access to credit)
Work to improve social conditions: Producers must invest
additional earned income into community.