Fair trade coffee is coffee that is bought from coffee farmers at a higher than standard wage. This means that the coffee farmers are being justly compensated for their coffee harvest. It is a market-based system that helps coffee producers in developing countries sell their goods to developed countries.
Coffee farmers join coffee cooperatives with other local farmers who produce coffee. The coops then guarantee that the farmers receive a minimum wage for their product. If market prices surpass the minimum wage, the growers receive a premium per pound price. Little by little, the coffee farmers in developing countries lives have been positively changed by fair trade.
The main purpose of these trade coops is to provide farmers and their families with better economic incentives, shelter, food and comfortable working conditions. The communities are able to provide education and health care to the farmers and their families. Each community allocates the funds in a way that they see fit. A way that advances and improves the quality of life in their community. New infrastructure, medical care, education and advancement against poverty in these poor nations has emerged because of the help that has come from the people of developed countries.
In the 1940′s, fair trade began when a few socially aware organizations in North America and Europe decided to help some poverty-stricken areas sell their goods. The organization would help them by finding a better and richer market in which to sell their products. In the global market today, when we as consumers purchase this type of coffee, tea, vegetables, fruits and other products, we can continue to move forward trading fairly with initiatives to sustain the environment and alleviate the exploitation of poverty-stricken communities in the world.
Fair Trade USA, a nonprofit organization, certifies products in the United States for fair trade. They provide the farmers with a market-based system that allows healthy working conditions, fair prices and resources for sustainable lives. This organization continues to work to heighten consumer awareness and dismiss exploitation. They strive to give the farmers the tools to become international business people.
Before trading in a fair manner came into existence, coffee farmers around the world battled conditions that put their land and farms in jeopardy, in order to make a living,. They dealt with agricultural procedures that harmed the ecosystem. Many of them lost their land to big coffee companies that were not paying them a fair wage. Then, in turn, the companies would hire them back at a ridiculous wage to farm on what had been their land. Today, fair trade not only ensures a fair minimum wage to the coffee producers, it works with them on reforestation, water conservation, financial incentives and environmental education.
Fair Trade wages allow coffee farmers a way to keep their farms for generations to come. The farmers are educated with new techniques to sustain and grow their farms and their community. The men and women who grow Fair Trade certified items benefit and the buyers of fair trade coffee can rest assured that their purchase is helping farmers across the world