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Spencer Atkinson
11/16/2017
Inequality’s In Fair-trade Coffee
Across the western world fair trade is held in high regard because of the environmental and
humanitarian benefits that it boasts. While fair trade allows consumers in the western world to feel
morally sufficient, the reality is that fair trade masks the inequitable working standard which 3rd world
coffee makers adhere to. Using several scholarly articles, I will better explain why the fair-trade system
is initially inaugurated and the inequities that lie within.
The consensus of the western world and many consumers is that fair-trade is a beneficial
system. There are 315 producers' associations, representing a total of 900,000 farmers and workers in
40 countries, are currently recognized as Fair Trade producers (Wilson Pg 2) . Fair-trade is a social
movement whose stated goal is to help producers in developing countries achieve better trading
conditions and to promote sustainability. Members of the movement advocate the payment of higher
prices to exporters, as well as improved social and environmental standards. The movement helps large
fair-trade compliant company’s such as Starbucks market to their socio-economic conscious customers.
The producers on the other do not always reap that the western world perceives them to have. Looking
at a case study we see that the highly labor-intensive nature of small-scale production, the lack of
cableways and irrigation, and the steep hillside slopes of most St. Lucian farms greatly limit farm
productivity as compared to Central and South American plantations (Moberg Pg 5) . The social and
