We are not fair trade certified but we work directly with farmers

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Black Gold Forums / COFFEE INDUSTRY / We are not fair trade certified but we work directly with farmers

Author	Message
Marie D Member	# Posted: 20 Mar 2007 20:51 Reply I just wanted to let you know that we are a world renowned roaster here in the USA and were the first to introduce single estate coffees in the 80's. We consistently pay well above the fair trade price as much as $14.50 (USD) per pound of green coffee (also as a note green coffee losses about 20% of it's volume once roasted). We are not fair trade certified but we feel that by working directly with the estates around the world we ensure that an ethically quality product is produced by paying more instead of dealing with a brokerage house or the coffee exchange market.
FairTradeLady Member	# Posted: 14 May 2008 17:22 Reply We represent here in the States (based in Florida) The Union of 10 FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED Cooperatives in Rwanda. Very high quality coffee. Your coffee comes straight from the Farmers in Rwanda. We are not brokers but US Representatives of the Union which includes in excess of 14,000 farmers. We are looking for new wholesale clients in the US. Please contact me at hortance@ibotrade.com Thank you
rebeccaupton Member	# Posted: 7 Jun 2008 15:11 Reply Why is Black Gold not certified Fairtrade...? Just out of interest (I am not very educated on this matter... Thankyou.
soaware Member	# Posted: 13 Aug 2009 02:48 Reply There is a cost involved for all these certifications and FT is no exception. While FT offers some advantages, it does not eliminated the real problem of the multitude of middlemen, and corrupt governments that have their hands in the pot to eat when they have put nothing in to begin with. This is not a slam at middlemen or governments. Facts are facts. They are what they are. It is what it is. Do a Google on Fair Trade and what it takes to get certified. Then consider the cost, and when people are willing to sell the shirts off their backs just to help build a school, how do they justify money for a program that is a bandage on a severed jugular vein? The concept of Fair Trade was awesome in it's inception, but it was only a step in the right direction and not the destination. The real challenge is to get grower co-ops and roaster co-ops together, eliminating a large percentage of those in the middle, creating more money to be spread around among the growers, still giving roasters great coffees at prices similar to what they have been paying to brokers. There are many roaster co-ops out there already making a difference. Not only do they work directly with the grower co-ops, some also invest part of their profits back to the villages and communities. That fact may be the real "fair trade."

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