Fair Trade Coffee Beans
The majority of coffee beans produced in the world are produced by small farmers on their family farms. There is a worldwide movement toward supporting these farmers. This movement is seeking to sell specially certified beans as Fair Trade Coffee Beans. The intent of these fair trade beans is to circumvent the international coffee conglomerates in order to ensure that more money is directly distributed to the individual family farms.
The fair trade coffee beans are meant to be produced in partnership with groups that adhere to a standard set of principles. The overall concept of fair trade is the primary principle. It is structured so that organized groups of farmers will receive a minimum price for their beans. This price is on a scale dependent upon the types of beans produced, and if the farm is or is not certified as organic.
All of the participating farm groups must adhere to agreements regarding labor on the farms. All labor must have a living wage and acceptable working conditions. The fair trade coffee beans trade groups are structured in a way that there is a minimum of middlemen. This is designed to ensure that maximum profits are filtered back to the family farms.
The structure of all of the participants of the fair trade agreements and farm groups is such that it is organized into a single group. All of the profits and trades are made to benefit the group as a whole.
This structure was designed with the family farm in mind. The certification of free trade coffee beans was meant to be a symbol that the majority of the money went to the family farm, in order to ensure better working conditions and quality of life for the farmers. But as you can see from the description above, the organization has a double focus. It was meant to have money filtered to the individual family farmers, yet the profits are handled and used by the organization of the farmers.
Whether or not the purchase of free trade coffee beans is actually benefiting individuals or simply another way of supporting some type of labor organization is the subject of much debate. If you wish to purchase fair trade coffee beans and feel good about your purchase then take some time to look into the specific certifying agency as well as the track record of the farm organization that is providing the fair trade coffee beans.
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