Fair Trade

Fair Trade is the most widely recognized “ethical” product certification developed from the alternative trading initiatives of the 1970s. These initiatives can be seen as one of the responses to the globalization of markets and, particularly, the inequalities between nations that developed during the colonial histories of trade. The initial aims of fair trade organizations were to give stability and development possibility to small farmers in the Global South during volatile market fluctuations. These organizations also hoped their intervention would raise the profile of trade and poverty issues in relatively affluent consumer cultures.

Fair trade organizations currently have two prime tools through which they intervene in the free market. They place a floor on the commodity price they pay to small farmers to ensure these producers ...