In rec.food.cooking, Arri London > wrote:

> > > Just as a point of interest, Fairtrade guarantees the farmers a minimum
> > > price per pound, but farmers get greatly in excess of the Fairtrade price
> > > for truly superior coffee at auction. So while Fairtrade offers a very
> > > good program for farmers, they can do even better by improving their
> > > quality to the point where they produce truly superior coffee.
> >


> And the last statement about standard coffee yielding a better price to
> the farmer is generally not true.

Nobody here made any such statement. "Standard" coffee doesn't even yield
enough to the farmer to put food on his table. "Truly superior coffee",
OTOH, yields more to the farmer than Fairtrade coffee.


The brokers and people in the middle
> take the largest cut; the farmers are often in debt year after year.
> That is the basis for Fairtrade coffee: the people growing the coffee
> get *more* money than they would through the usual channels. The coops
> formed eliminate most of those brokers who would otherwise take most of
> the profit.

If you are comparing Fairtrade to commodity coffee production, you are
correct. But nobody here is discussing commodity coffee production.


> Fairtrade coffee is never too expensive. I cut down my coffee
> consumption in order to buy Fairtrade. In the UK it wasn't more
> expensive than any other decent coffee and most of the supermarkets
> feature it anyway.

My point is that "other decent coffee" can yield more to the farmer than
Fairtrade coffee, and "truly superior coffee" usually yields more.

> While it is still considered a little 'exotic' here locally (In NM) it's
> still worth it to me.

Good for you.

--
....I'm an air-conditioned gypsy...

- The Who