http://ethnicsupplies.wordpress.com/wp-admin/edit-comments.php?p=163#comments

I certainly feel that whilst Fairtrade ahs made huge strides to make things better for farmers, more could done to make things more equitable, and that certification feen should go, as a start

Re: having to deal with different organizations for many countries.
That’s was largely fixed years ago. For ex, manufacturers only need to get one certification for all of Europe. However, the US & Canada do still operate their own seals.

Re: the seeming hypocrisy over Nestlé
The Fair Trade movement, just like the organic movement, and workers rights movements is composed of hundreds of organizations, companies, and now millions of people across the globe. Its unreasonable – and a distraction – to suggest that such a collection should speak with one voice. And while Oxfam & others did push Nestle to adopt Fair Trade standards they had wanted a much more substantial response than the token one offered by Nestle. We, too, took Nestle to task over this. To see the fully elaborated argument see: http://www.wedge.coop/newsletter/article/630.html

Re: only the commodity, & not the processing is certified.
Good point. As one of the dozen or so worker co-operatives working in the Fair Trade movement we’d agree that the other stages in the value-added chain should be addressed in some way, whether or not Fair Trade certification is the place for that.
For example, as Zazie says, there is a parallel system (www.ifat.org) that certifies ORGANIZATIONS and COMPANIES, rather than PRODUCTS. Equal Exchange is a founding member of IFAT as well as utilizing Fair Trade certification for our coffee, tea, chocolate, etc.

Other worker co-ops (Cocoa Camino, Planet Bean, & Just Us in Canada, Ethiquetable in France, Alterantiva 3 in Spain) all combine product certification with an alternative, progressive economic model for those other value-added steps you mentioned.

I could also go on about the critical role of co-ops in economic development, etc. but you can just read some of the dozens of academic studies on this for yourself. http://www.fairtrade.net/impact_studies.html & http://www.transfairusa.org/content/Downloads/FairTradeAcademicReferences.doc

I have go back to work now buying and selling some Fair Trade coffee & tea.

For example, the Fair Trade system does address environmental issues. Go to this pdf fro the global umbrella group for Fair Trade & see pages 7 – 20) http://www.fairtrade.net/fileadmin/user_upload/content/Generic_Fairtrade_Standard_SF_Dec_2007_EN.pdf

You’ll see that farmers must address issues like soil erosion, composting, waste-water, and a host of other criteria. They may not use approx. 100 of the most problematic agro-chemicals.

Also, unlike another certification systems, including organic & Rainforest alliance, Fair Trade is the only one that GUARANTEES farmers an extra price premium for going organic. For ex, Fair Trade importers like Equal Exchange have to pay an extra 20 cents/lb if the coffee is certified organic. 20 That’s a significant financial commitment to support organic farmers that no other system requires.

I was working with cocoa farmers in an earthquake and Tsunami-affected island in Indonesia. We only had a two year timeframe. I looked at the whole fairtrade system. GTZ had brought it in Aceh. Well, half brought it in. Well, perhaps a quarter. We decided to give up before we even started, given that we knew that we wouldn’t be able to finish the job.

*sigh*.

Fair Trade seems to be on auto pilot right now and as it comes under more criticism from the coffee farmers who actually get screwed while certified not much will change.