You know there's millions of people in the developing world who struggle to survive on
just a couple of dollars a day.
Fair trade tells us that we can help simply by buying a cup of fair-trade labeled coffee.
But I have to ask myself, how effective is that really?
It's a complex issue but we owe it to those in need to make sure that every dollar counts.
I'm Colleen Haight, assistant professor of economics at San Jose State University.
I've spent the past 10 years or so researching fair-trade coffee, and I've also spent a lot
of time on coffee farms in Central America actually talking to the coffee farmers about
their experiences.
The goals of fair trade are very admirable, and I love the fact that it's a voluntary
organization.
They've done an outstanding job of creating better consumer awareness, for example.
Consumers today are much more appreciative of how their purchases affect the world's
poor in our global economy.
However, if you really want to help the poor, the fair-trade model for coffee isn't the
most effective way to do that.
Fair trade operates by asking consumers to pay a few cents more for each cup of coffee
they buy.
They even convey this extra money all the way down through their supply chain, all the
way to the small farmer who grew the coffee.
The problem is fair-trade regulations define that small farmer as a small land owner, but
the poor in the coffee farming community don't have enough money to own their own land.
If you really want to help the poor, you have to address yourself to the migrant farm workers.
Migrant farm workers have to constantly move from farm to farm, picking up whatever work
they can.
The fair-trade regulations only say that we have to pay these laborers the country's minimum
wage.
The problem is that's already the law.
Fair trade has absolutely nothing else to say about the migrant farm worker.
So how can you make choices that better benefit the poor?
It might seem odd but one way you can do this is by buying high-quality coffee.
High-quality beans take more time and care to harvest.
This results in higher pay for the seasonal laborers who pick the coffee, as growers insist
on quality beans that will fetch higher prices in the market.
As the demand for premium coffee grows, more of these higher-paying jobs become available.
It may be counter intuitive, but migrant workers who pick beans for premium coffees tend to
receive higher pay than those workers who pick beans for most fair-trade brands.
Since the price of fair-trade coffee is more or less the same as it is for premium coffees
without the fair-trade label, consumers can do more for the poor by actually not buying
the fair-trade label.
At the end of the day, you have to remember that fair trade is a brand just like any other
brand.
As a conscientious consumer, we can't just accept the claims that are made.
We have to do our own investigation.
Our dollars are limited.
We have to make sure that all of our choices have the impact that we want them to.