Is Highlands Coffee Fair Trade?
The term Fair Trade is actually a trademark for an organization that helps control the amount of income received by producers when selling to brokers on the commodities market, typically. While it is helpful to see that farmers get more money for their coffee, the promise of Fair Trade is somewhat limited. It often still does not guarantee that much of the fruits of the labor of the farmer go into his or her own pockets. It works best to assist producers who are in countries that sell primarily on the open market as a commodity. It is not really applicable where coffee is produced by indigenous companies and exported under their own brand name. In Vietnam, the economy is regulated and foreign ownership is limited, with the purpose of ensuring that a product like coffee that is produced and packaged in Vietnam is essentially “owned” by the people who produce it, and also contributes to the general welfare. Proceeds from coffee exported from Vietnam under brand names are never consumed b
