Unfair Trade

[J.K. Gregg]

[exploited]

[Darkhorse]

I don't really understand the complaint made by this article, but fair trade is definitely just a bull shit buzz word used to lure in green dip shits. The people really profiting from the fair trade certification are the retailers who sell fair trade products for absurd profits. The next biggest are roasters, then exporters, and finally farmers. Farmers end up spending a sizable percentage of their extra income remaining compliant with fair trade standards. Because everyone has been jumping on the fair trade bandwagon, farmers who have not been certified fair trade (perhaps because they can't afford to be) are paid less for their crops than they had been previously. It's really a huge scam. Consumers think they're helping poor farmers when their money is really going right into the pockets of retailers. Especially when companies like Starbucks are able to buy non-fair trade for less and then sell it for huge profits by advertising it as fair trade when less than 5% is actually fair trade. When you way the positive and negative impacts on farmers I doubt they're any better on average because of fair trade labeling.