Update, 8/9/06) I asked Starbucks about its fair trade commitment, and was told that farmers that work on fair trade co-ops don’t get all the money that companies pay for their coffee. Is that true?
To say that farmers in fair trade co-ops aren’t getting the money due to them is twisting the truth quite a bit. As a recent NYT article reports, farmers directly get about 70% of the money that’s given to co-ops. The other 30% or so goes to 1) admin costs for running the co-op and 2) projects that the co-op as a whole chooses to undertake (i.e. building a school and hospital, getting clean running water, etc.) At all fair trade co-ops, all farmers MUST be given a democratic vote in deciding on these projects and such. So no, not 100% of the money goes directly into the farmer’s pocket, but if a farmer votes to put 30% of the moolah toward a badly needed school, I’d say that’s money that goes back to the farmer, albeit indirectly. Of course, since Starbucks prefers to work with large estate farms (read: cheaper for Starbucks) than co-ops, you can see why Starbucks tries to make that 70% figure look like corruption at the co-ops.
Related Questions
- Update, 8/9/06) I asked Starbucks about its fair trade commitment, and was told that farmers that work on fair trade co-ops don’t get all the money that companies pay for their coffee. Is that true?
- Update, 1/24/06) Where IS Starbucks in terms of their commitment to fair trade? Gimme the skinny.
- Is starbucks fair trade?
