Is Fair Trade the Answer?

Moderator Melissa Nunnally discusses Fair Trade with Maxwell & Serena. (Global Connection / The High Road)

Fair trade certification was developed to ensure that farmers receive a fair price for their harvest and that lasting relationships are established between farmer and buyer.  On this episode of Global Connection, Maxwell and Serena discuss if fair trade is the answer to help promote sustainability in developing countries.

Maxwell thought that fair trade was a great concept but hoped that everyone was being honest in the dealings. He stated that he notices the labels on coffee but those labels aren’t a deciding factor in his purchase. He would like to see some possible impact reports to see how fair trade is in fact helping the farmers. He also added that he would hope that our American farmers would be able to benefit from fair trade as well.

Serena mentioned that she does a lot of shopping based on word of mouth to truly understand how a particular item affects a community. But she also recognized that there is no possible way to give adequate research to everything she purchases. She felt that she could make more of an impact to a developing country by giving monetary support to help build a well in the area – something that would make a very obvious positive impact in that region.

We would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this issue.

Did you realize there are about 30 other products that can be certified as fair trade including chocolate, produce, even beauty products. Here is more information about fair trade: http://fairtradeusa.org

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