 |
The Flavor of a Balanced Life
become member / login |
 |
| Home |
| About Us |
| Baby Food |
| Where to Buy |
| Blog |
| Press |
| Celeb Fans |
| Eco-Tasty |
| Feedback |
| Recipes |
| FAQs |
| Links |
| Contact |
 |
|
 |
|
Among the initiatives that Tastybaby supports -- along with general "green" practices, sustainable farming, good ethics -- is Fair Trade. In our view, it's hard to feel good about a product whose manufacturers don't guarantee that everyone involved in its creation is well-treated and payed a fair wage. We have made a practice of only buying Fair Trade coffee for some years, and we are delighted to see that certain stories in the news these days are bringing the issue to the fore. With any luck, these stories (not to mention this week's Tasty Throwdown, written by our own Assistant Website Editor, Renee Gannon!) will cast further scrutiny on the topic, and encourage consumers to insist on Fair Trade coffee. After all, it is the right thing to do ...
BREWING A GOOD, STRONG POT OF FAIR TRADE
Dunkin Donuts has been selling 100% Fair Trade certified espresso drinks since 2003, although the public didn’t have a clue. Ironically, they just took that information public by putting a relatively inconspicuous Fair Trade certification sticker on the entrances of all their stores. This rather demure PR stunt is bewildering, to say the least, although I don’t blame Dunkin Donuts for mutedly announcing this important information during a time when corporations are being scrutinized for taking socio-environmental “responsibilities” that border on greenwashing. Interestingly enough, 100% of Dunkin' Donuts' espresso-based coffee is fair-trade-certified, compared with Starbucks' 3.7 %. Because of its prodigious reach, however, Starbucks is North America's largest purchaser of fair-trade coffee, which hardly makes its purchasing decisions negligible.
Why Fair Trade you ask? The Fair Trade marketing system guarantees small coffee farmers a minimum price of about $1.40 for half a kilo of coffee, which helps to sustain the small coffee growers business, family and community. Driving demand for quality helps farmers, and Dunkin' Donuts sells 2.5 million cups of coffee per day. Fair Trade certification is not just about paying farmers and workers fairly, though. It is also about promoting education and developing more sustainable trade ties with other nations. Fair Trade certification involves voluntary cooperation with a certifying organization and usually reflects an international effort between companies and their suppliers. Today, coffee and cacao are the two most commonly certified crops, because both industries traditionally exploited their workers. To become Fair Trade certified, a company must guarantee that their suppliers do not use child or slave labor, that workers are paid a fair living wage, that employment opportunities are available to all workers and that everyone has an equal opportunity for advancement and that healthy working and living conditions are provided for workers. In addition, producers must agree to support the educational and technical needs of their workforce, while promoting active and healthy trade agreements and being open to public accountability. Fair Trade certification also often involves environmentally sustainable production and harvest practices, encouraging a stable market and a healthy Earth. Fair Trade certification also usually involves a respect for cultural heritage and encourages cultural exchange between nations rather than the smothering of traditions. Many Fair Trade products include information about the people who grow them and the world they live in, making every cup of coffee an education.
With Dunkin Donuts annuncng its commitment to Fair Trade, why wouldn’t Starbucks follow suit? Well, in case you were wondering, you can actually walk into a Starbucks and ask, “Can I get a cup of Fair Trade Coffee, please?” and they will give it to you (according to their policy). As maintained by a report issued by Starbucks, “Fair Trade Certified coffee can be brewed by coffee press during store hours upon customer request.” Additionally, they claim they are one of North America’s largest roasters and retailers of Fair Trade Certified coffee and they sell it around the world in 21 different countries. So why not step up to the plate and offer all (or most) of their coffee as Fair Trade certified all the time? Is this coffee just sitting around in bags waiting to be asked for? The answer, sadly enough, is that the majority of Starbucks coffee drinkers are not banging down the proverbial Starbucks doors demanding that their coffee be Fair Trade certified. Because we live in a market-driven system (for better or worse) and by making demands, consumers affect supply. Starbucks is a well-oiled global machine and until the masses start boycotting their soy lattes and caramel macchiatos by the thousands, I doubt we will see any change in their Free Trade policies any time soon.
In the meantime, it’s refreshing to see larger companies like Dunkin Donuts taking these important steps forward. Hopefully it will open the eyes of their consumers and begin to put the pressure on Starbucks by educating the public and providing them the know-how to demand Free Trade coffee. And that, my friends, is the Dunkin difference.
Are you interested in supporting Fair Trade coffee? Check out Cooperative Coffees, a green coffee importing cooperative, comprised of 22 community-based coffee roasters in the USA and Canada, committed to building and supporting equitable and sustainable trade relationships for the benefit of farmers and their exporting cooperatives, families and communities.
If you're a coffee lover, you should check out JavaPop, the nation's first organic- and fair-trade-certified coffee soday! 
|
