Fair trade still striving to create an identity

April 26, 2008. More people beginning to recognize that fair trade is not necessarily free trade. This Vancouver Sun article looks at consumers' growing awareness of fair trade, and at the challenges that still lie ahead in terms of people's notions of fair trade goes beyond just a "fair price".

Despite its more than 60-year history, fair trade is still a relatively new concept for many North Americans.

Anne Lally, executive director of the Fair Trade Resource Network in Pennsylvania, says that "even two years ago, people in North America often mistook fair trade to mean free trade."

However, this has begun to change dramatically in the last year. According to a Transfair USA online survey, consumer recognition of Fair Trade-certified labelling in the U.S. rose to 28 per cent in 2007, an increase of 53 per cent from the previous year.

Awareness and understanding, however, are two different things. As Stacey Toews, co-founder of Level Ground Trading Ltd., points out, while more and more customers are loyal to the premise of fair trade, they don't necessarily know exactly what it involves, or that there are different "shades" of fair trading, just as there are with green products.

FAIRLY MISUNDERSTOOD

Safe labour and fair wages -- the issues people associate most often with fair trade -- are, in fact, only two of the 10 standards that the International Fair Trade Association continuously monitors and requires its members to meet. For trade activities to be "fair," says Toews, they should be based on dialogue, transparency and respect. According to the association's website -- www.ifat.org -- this includes:

•  the creation of opportunities for producers who are economically disadvantaged or marginalized;
•  a price that is fair in the local context;
•  proper rewards for women's contribution to production;
•  the assurance of a safe and healthy working environment;

While fair trade also actively encourages better environmental practices, this does not necessarily mean that the products are organic or environmentally friendly.

Ken Creighton, co-founder of EcoFair Trading Ltd., has strict environmental criteria for the fair-trade handicrafts he imports, but says that while some fair-trade goods are superior to conventional products, there is still much work to be done when it comes to improving environmental stewardship.

Although most people still associate fair trade with coffee, and more recently chocolate, Cynthia Wagner of TransFair Canada notes that there are 14 fair-trade base products, such as cocoa, and numerous composite goods -- things like chocolate bars -- currently certified in Canada. These include bananas, sugar, wine, flowers, cosmetics, clothing, and baked goods.

Like other third-party certification systems, Fair Trade-certified labelling helps consumers identify and qualify product claims. However, it also has its limitations. For example, not all fairly traded products can be certified. Since certification relies on standardization -- agreed-upon production costs, inputs and values -- there is a limit as to what goods can be feasibly assessed.

Some fair traders also argue that the labelling system, as it exists now, cannot or does not adequately ensure some of the basic tenets of free trade.

These include the direct relationship with producers, as well as regionally-sensitive pricing. While Toews acknowledges the value of certification, and believes that the logo is as good as it can be, much of what his own company does falls under what is called "direct fair trade."

"We need to be profitable," says Toews, "but we pay our producers what they need based on our dialogue with them. In our 10 years of business, we have generally paid, per pound of unroasted coffee, 40 per cent higher than world prices and 20 per cent higher than fair trade prices."

He admits that the process, which includes close work with producers to help them improve efficiency, environmental standards, and other conditions, can be painstaking and difficult to articulate. However, he feels it is an important, fundamental pillar of fair trade that cannot be reduced to a formalized logo.

"We are passionate about promoting fair trade," says Toews "because the degree to which the welfare of the neediest producers is addressed is a measure of the success of the movement.''

Kim Davis is a Vancouver sustainable-design researcher.

E-mail: redkimwrites@gmail.com