Some Interesting Facts and questions about Fair trade gourmet coffee:
1. The targeted gourmet coffee farmer who needs fair trade owns a farm less than 10 acres; his family runs and works the farm, they live in a third world country or remotely up in the mountains of a central America country like Brazil. They get about $.65 cents per pound without fair trade and make less than $10,000 annually. They desperately need fair trade to get out of their poverty.
2. Without phones, newspapers, television, telephones, cell phones, and in most cases running water and electricity - how does this farmer even know about " Fair Trade" in the first place?
3. With no savings; no banks; no loans; and no finances how does this farmer pay the fees to get certified fair trade?
4. How much advertising does Fair Trade do out side the US? Zero! If they did where and which media would they use?
5. Interesting most of the Fair Trade Coffee Companies in foreign lands are owned by Americans or large co-ops partially owned and funded by Americans.
6. Fair Trade doubles the price of coffee the farmer recieves but does nothing to ensure the laborers who work the farm receive any more money. Hence all the large farms owned by Americans but worked by locals help the Americans get much richer but do nothing for the local coffee workers.
7. Fair Trade does not do anything to ensure the coffee is any better or better quality - it only ensures that the price is higher.
8. Fair Trade is not recognized in China or Russia or Japan or any of the coffee countries.
9. Fair Trade has helped many Americans feel much better about themselves.
10. It has done very little to help the farmers who need it the most. Or the labor
Fair Trade has helped raise the price of coffee; it has helped the rich get richer; it has helped some or a few poor or pheasant farmers, It has done nothing to improve the quality of gourmet coffee; like most marketing ploys it has helped us think we are paying more money for a better product but worse yet it does NOT help the people we envision it helping
And worse yet it does nothing to help laborers - the people who need it most. Heres a question for you - can a Fair trade coffee owner pay a child $.10 a day to pick coffee and still be Fair Trade? Does Fair Trade have any laws built into it to stop farmers from taking advantage of children? You don't want to know the answer. Sip that Fair Trade and keep feeling good about yourself.
Boake Moore is an IT Sales engineer by trade and founded a non profit coffee company called Mission Grounds Gourmet Coffee- http://www.missiongrounds.com/ourphilosophy.php
It donates all its profits and proceeds to helping orphans and impoverished children. We currently are building schools in rural China, orphanages in South America; supporting orphans in Russia and Africa. And helping homeless children in the United States.
Lets make the world better -
George "Boake" Moore
Mission Grounds
http://www.missiongrounds.com
Source: www.ezinearticles.com
