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Favorite brand of coffee?
wrote:
>
> In rec.food.cooking, Miche > wrote:
>
> > > But the wanky coffee yields a better price to the farmer than Fairtrade.
>
> > But it's priced so that I can't afford to buy it.
>
> If you buy Fairtrade coffee, you pay at least as much, and likely more,
> than non- Fairtrade coffees which yield more for the farmers.
That's probably not true. Few farmers own coffee plantations. At least
with Fairtrade, the people who grow the coffee have a chance to own the
land. If that's not possible, they get a larger share of the profit.
I am not
> opposed to Fairtrade. Some other people are, because it does not pay the
> farmers as much as they would get by improving quality. Generally, it is
> used as a marketing thing. Dunkin Donuts, for example, is selling
> Fairtrade coffee. By doing so, they pay less per pound than they would if
> they were to buy true specialty coffee, and give the impression that they
> are helping farmers.
But Dunking Donuts and similar places have never ever had
top-of-the-line specialty coffee. They never will sell such coffee, as
the profit margin to them would be lower. When people want truly
superior coffee they don't go to either Dunkin Donuts or to Starbuck's.
So it makes sense for those outlets to sell Fairtrade coffee. Everyone
benefits.
Indeed, they are helping farmers, and the coffee
> they get is better than average. but alternatives exist which help the
> farmers more, and provide better coffee (and a better value) to consumers.
You haven't yet provided one instance of this.
>
> If helping coffee farmers is something you feel strongly about, another
> excellent organization is CoffeeKids.
>
> But anytime you buy specialty coffee, Fairtrade or not, you help farmers,
> and anytime you buy supermarket-type canned coffee, you hurt farmers.
You haven't provided any instance that specialty coffee which is not
Fairtrade will help farmers.
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