Ethical Commitments Made By A Fair Trade Coffee Roaster

One thing that distinguishes fair trade certified coffee from other coffee is that the fair trade company knows something about the farmers who grow the beans. This is very different from large corporations that often have no clue who the farmers are.

They only know they get beans from suppliers who have bought from the farmers, and the conditions under which the farmers live are not important as long as the beans come in at a low price. But this sort of ignorance of the source is not an option for a fair trade coffee roaster.

The fair trade coffee roaster indeed commits to certain things that center on the ethical treatment of farmers and the production of an environmentally responsible product.

It first commits to sourcing beans as directly from the original farmers as possible, bypassing the middlemen and paying a minimum fair price. Coffee roasters are also encouraged to give as much technical assistance as they can to help the farmers transition to more organic ways of growing the plants.

When the fair trade movement began and spread beyond the fair trade coffee roaster and into certification of other products, the coffee people didn't realize how much more life-and-death the issue would soon become.

Prices have recently collapsed, and the big corporations now buy coffee at the new prices while charging customers the old prices, thereby creating even more gigantic profits.

Proponents of fair trade believe the tragedy of the loss of livelihood and loss of life among farmers demonstrates more than ever that the coffee industry needs to be entirely recreated as a fair trade industry.

To read more Ethical Commitments Made By A Fair Trade Coffee Roaster