Fair Trade For All: Fair Trade Becomes Mainstream

A conversation with Fair Trade USA’s Paul Rice

October is officially Fair Trade Month, and Fair Trade USA founder and CEO Paul Rice is both optimistic and realistic about the impact of Fair Trade certified products for lifting farmers and producers in poor, developing nations out of poverty.

The concept of Fair Trade began in the 1940′s as disparate organizations of shopkeepers and churches in Europe reached out to help impoverished communities to gain access to their wares – mostly handicrafts in the beginning. In the 60′s, sugar was adopted into Fair Trade markets. With the creation in the 80′s of Max Havalaar – a name based on a fictional character from a famous Dutch novel – coffee-pickers achieved representation in Fair Trade markets and the concept began to “get it legs” and quickly expand.

When Rice first learned of the Fair Trade model in 1990, he spent eleven years in the mountains of Nicaragua working to help farmers develop co-ops through development aid programs. It was a sobering lesson.

“After one failed development project after another,” says Rice, “I finally came to the conclusion that development aid really doesn’t do much to empower small farmers to rise out of poverty based on their own efforts.”

Read and comment on the full article here: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/10/fair-trade-all/

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