Fair Trade in Ireland

In the last week, I’ve traveled in Ireland, visiting coffee shops and talking with coffee roasters.  The emphasis throughout the country has been on Fair Trade. There are banners in each city proclaiming that Limerick, for example, is a Fair Trade City.

On the surface, it makes sense to promote Fair Trade products as a way of trying to get more money back to subsistence farmers to help improve their lives and living conditions. And although there has been some success in getting people to consume Fair Trade products, particularly with strong marketing campaigns, the trick is getting people to continue consuming those products on an ongoing basis. However, that can be done only if the quality of the Fair Trade products is equal to or surpasses that of similar products that don’t have a Fair Trade insignia. Unfortunately, that is often not the case.

I discussed this situation with one of my customers, a boutique coffee roaster in Belfast who focuses on cupping and roasting the best coffees he can find. He travels to origins to source beans, is an SCAA Cup of Excellence judge and is well respected by his peers.

As we talked about Fair Trade, he became animated. Many of his customers demand Fair Trade-certified coffees, and he is happy to comply. However, he is frustrated by the fact that he can find and source better-tasting coffees that are not certified Fair Trade due to the way Fair Trade works. If a coffee isn’t from a co-op, it can’t be certified Fair Trade, even if the producing farm meets all of the other criteria necessary for approval. These better coffees command a higher price than their Fair Trade counterparts, so more money actually goes back to the farms, and more money can go directly to the growers.

The paradox remains that Fair Trade is only an economic stamp of approval, with a minimum-price guarantee. It says nothing about the quality of the coffee, which can be inconsistent due to the nature of a co-op. And, according to this roaster, although Fair Trade sets a minimum price for coffee, it is very difficult to get a higher price than the minimum because of the inherent quality issues. So although he is willing to buy the Fair Trade coffee for those accounts that demand it, he is happy buying non-Fair Trade-certified coffee for a higher price that makes a better cup. He feels that he is making an even bigger difference in the lives of coffee growers who strive to produce the best beans and who receive an even higher price for their work without the third-party endorsement of Fair Trade.