The Challenges of Marketing Fair Trade - Wynne, Sandy

working on as this paper is being written. While TFUSA has chosen not to address this
issue, at least not publicly, others like GMCR are taking an active role in solving this
serious problem. It is far better to acknowledge problems, no matter how much they
conflict with perceptions. It is also important to acknowledge other positive impacts that
encourage members of Fair Trade communities to stay with their Fair Trade
organizations.
The fairness question must be broadened to include the benefits producers now
have but did not have before Fair Trade. Fair Trade “certification alone will not bring
financial stability or poverty alleviation to most coffee families”, but there are certainly
many benefits the families are reaping that would not happen without Fair Trade
(Mendez et al., 2005). Those benefits include: new business skills, empowerment of
women, a healthier environment, more children in school and access to credit and market
information (Méndez et al., 2005). In all of these ways Fair Trade has made life fairer for
many farmers and producers. Now the challenge is to make sure that no one goes hungry
after a hard day working to meet Fair Trade requirements. The most obvious solution is
to raise the Fair Trade floor price to reflect a more realistic cost of living. It took years
and much debate for FLO to finally support a five cent increase in the Fair Trade floor
price for coffee. The coffee farmers, and other commodity producers, need more. The
challenge for retailers is to help convince consumers that the need is real and the cost is
minimal.
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