Certifying Fair Trade Coffee – a lot more complicated than organic

Back in the day, when people first wanted to buy organic produce locally, there was plenty of debate among small farmers and the various certification organizations.

Not everyone was in agreement, and it took years for things to settle down.

But the issue of fair trade certification is a lot more complicated.

How come? Because the certification rules include a requirement for small coffee farmers to be grouped within cooperatives.

In itself, the cooperative requirement offers plenty of benefits to small coffee farmers who have spent years being taken advantage of by various middlemen. It gives them power as a group and protects them from those who would take advantage of them.

But this requirement to be a cooperative brings a serious set of problems.

First, it is easy for some small farmers to find themselves unable to join a cooperative. Maybe they live too far away. Maybe they are excluded for other reasons.

Also, it excludes all kinds of coffee roasters and retailers who do plenty to support small coffee farmers, but are not officially recognized as being fair trade certified.

Here’s an excerpt from a recent entry by greenLAgirl:

So usually I stick to recommending cafes that serve fair trade coffee — but I’m making an exception for Jones Coffee.

Why? This Pasadena roaster gets its coffee from Finca dos Marias, a large farm that’s been featured on PBS for its progressive, worker-friendly policies.

How does one fix that? How can one market and promote fair trade certification to the public at large, but also recognize that some people outside of the system do just as much good in their own way?

This isn’t the first time I have raised this question in this blog. But it’s a tough one.