Those advantages will carry into FTUSA-certified
coffee, North says. A small co-op farm that doesn't
have many Fair Trade sales may have trouble coming
up with the fees necessary for Fair Trade certification;
larger farms have can absorb them more easily. The
bottom line is that Fair Trade coffee from larger farms
will tend to have a lower price, which will be attractive on
a superficial level.
"We're very concerned that people are just going to look
at a price list and say, 'OK, I'll take this fair trade Brazilian
coffee and I'll take the organic Ethiopian,' that kind
of shopping, and not knowing that this, quote, 'Fair
Trade' coffee is not doing what [they] thought it did,"
he says.
12
RISING TIDE
Rice counters that FTUSA's new model is a "win-win mentality,"
saying it will bring a rising tide of Fair Trade payments that will
lift the fortunes of all sorts of coffee farmers, including co-ops.
"Not only do we not believe that co-ops will get hurt, but
we're absolutely convinced that the only way to continue
benefiting co-ops is to unlock the certification for the whole
supply chain, so that these blends, which are mixtures of co-op
coffees and other coffees, can get certified," Rice says.
By expanding the scope of Fair Trade coffee, FTUSA will
help co-ops and other small farms by giving them the tools to
compete, Rice says.
"For some reason, the [traditional] fair trade world thinks
that co-ops need to be protected, rather than equipped in order
to compete," he says. "What we're
focusing on is competitiveness."
FTUSA will be in a position to help
small farmers with capital, training,
business management, market
access and other tools they need to
compete in the global marketplace,
Rice says.
The fight has become intense.
Last May, Equal Exchange took out
a full-age ad in the Burlington (Vt.)
Free Press, a newspaper near the
headquarters of Green Mountain
Coffee Roasters, the largest U.S.
coffee roaster. The ad urged Green
Mountain to sever ties with FTUSA
"in light of its unilateral decision
to change the rules of fair trade."
(Green Mountain's dealings with
FTUSA remain unchanged.)
Rice, for his part, says there's
room in the coffee world for
multiple approaches to the Fair
Trade question.
"I think we're part of a very big
tent," he says. "The sustainable
coffee movement has been going
on for a long time, and it's got lots
of different visionaries and leaders
and models. Together, we are all
changing the face of coffee, both
here for the consumer and the
industry, and around the world for
hard-working farmers and farm
workers as well. So I have praise for
everyone in the sustainable coffee
movement, and I think different
certifications and their approaches
[are] like different doors leading to
the same common ground." SCR
