{"id":17966,"date":"2013-09-11T16:05:29","date_gmt":"2013-09-11T20:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=17966"},"modified":"2013-09-30T09:55:19","modified_gmt":"2013-09-30T13:55:19","slug":"is-fair-trade-the-best-answer-for-struggling-coffee-farmers-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/is-fair-trade-the-best-answer-for-struggling-coffee-farmers-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Fair Trade the best answer for struggling coffee farmers around the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Fair trade may not be the panacea for coffee farmers that its proponents want it to be, according to Chris D. Gingrich<\/a>, PhD, economics<\/a> professor at Eastern Mennonite University, and his former student, Emily J. King.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on research they conducted from September 2010 to April 2011, Gingrich and King found that that the fair trade system for marketing coffee \u2013 under which farmers receive a minimum price for their product regardless of the market price \u2013 provides limited benefits to a tiny minority of farmers worldwide, despite the premium that consumers pay for that coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cConsumers spend between $2 and $10 extra on fair trade for every dollar that reaches participating farmers,\u201d wrote the authors in their abstract of \u201cDoes Fair Trade Fulfill the Claims of its Proponents? Measuring the Global Impact of Fair Trade on Participating Coffee Farmers<\/a>,\u201d published in the 2012 issue of The Journal of Cooperatives<\/i>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy comparison, projects that aim to improve coffee farmers’ production, processing, and marketing skills show the potential to provide benefits at a lower cost and also reach a broader clientele.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fair trade best when coffee prices low<\/h3>\n

Gingrich and King say when coffee prices are low, fair trade does benefit participating farmers, offering each producer as much as $100 per year on the average. But when market prices for coffee are relatively high, the annual benefits from fair trade fall to an average of $35 per participating farmer. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose in the fair trade system are doing fairly well,\u201d Gingrich said in an interview with an EMU reporter.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBut, in order to join a fair trade cooperative, farmers usually have to be land owners, which means that fair trade cooperatives are out of reach for the most economically disadvantaged and marginalized farmers in developing countries.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Fewer than 2 percent of the world\u2019s coffee farmers sell any of their coffee under fair trade terms. Despite the small number of fair trade producers, the quantity of fair trade coffee on the market exceeds demand, noted Gingrich and King in their article. <\/span><\/p>\n

For the foregoing reasons, the authors question whether \u201c<\/span>fair trade provides an attractive new paradigm for the global coffee market.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Proponents of fair trade argue that the true benefits of fair trade \u201cextend beyond higher prices for coffee farmers,\u201d benefits that Gingrich and King acknowledge. \u201cFair trade farmers receive access to credit and technical information,\u201d they say, as well as social benefits, such as increased women\u2019s leadership and community development programs provided through the cooperatives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Development projects may reach more producers<\/h3>\n

Nevertheless, in their article they tentatively concluded that \u201cfair trade may not be the most cost-effective method of benefiting coffee producers.\u201d They suggested that general development projects, such as quality improvements focused on productivity, may be able to reach more of the most disadvantaged producers, including those who do not own the land they farm or who are not cooperative members for other reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPart of writing the article was a call for more research,\u201d said King in an interview. \u201cAs fair trade continues to grow, you gain more insight into how the movement can reach its full potential.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

King, a 2012 graduate of EMU, now works in Illinois at a store affiliated with Ten Thousand Villages<\/a>, a nationwide retailer of fair trade products. In the absence of clarity on better ways to increase financial benefits for coffee producers, King says she remains a staunch supporter of the fair trade system. <\/span><\/p>\n

As an undergraduate, King was mentored by Gingrich in the independent study project that led to the article published in The Journal of Cooperatives<\/i>. In addition to doing first-hand research, she got college credit for her work. \u201cI had always been interested in fair trade,\u201d she said. \u201cIn researching it, I brought together my major in peacebuilding and development with my minor in economics.\u201d\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Fair Trade Fulfill the Claims of its Proponents? Measuring the Global Impact of Fair Trade on Participating Coffee Farmers\u201d is accessible at www.agecon.ksu.edu\/accc\/ncera210\/JOC%20pdfs\/V26\/Gingrich.pdf<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fair trade may not be the panacea for coffee farmers that its proponents want it to be, according to Chris D. Gingrich, PhD, economics professor at Eastern Mennonite University, and ... read more about Is Fair Trade the best answer for struggling coffee farmers around the world?<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":18118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5591],"tags":[11190,15080,15081],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-17966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-business-and-leadership","tag-chris-gingrich","tag-emily-j-king","tag-fair-trade"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Fair Trade the best answer for struggling coffee farmers around the world? - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2013\/is-fair-trade-the-best-answer-for-struggling-coffee-farmers-around-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Fair Trade the best answer for struggling coffee farmers around the world? - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fair trade may not be the panacea for coffee farmers that its proponents want it to be, according to Chris D. 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