Cotton And Sugar Ethical Consumerism

Recently people have become more and more conscious of what they put into their bodies and where it comes from. An unprecedented amount of information is now readily available to most Americans with the advent of the Internet. This has resulted in a great increase in transparency of the many aspects of imported products. Consequently, programs have been established to help ensure that these products are produced in more ethical and humane ways. To many Americans, the Fair Trade labeled bags of coffee they purchase that give them the energy they need to go about their day in addition to being a socially conscious decision but to many it is a means for survival and an escape from a cycle of debt that traps many similar non-Fair Trade growers generation after generation

Trading fairly is a movement which strives for fair treatment for farmers. In a fair trade agreement, farmers will

In their 2012 article, "The Toxic Truth about Sugar," Lustig et al argue that sugar, like alcohol, ought to be regulated by governments due to the harm it can cause to individuals' health and the public good. Their argument, at first glance, appears to be highly logical and virtually unassailable: alcohol is regulated because it is bad for health and causes other problems for society, and so sugar which is the cause of much greater and more pervasive health problems and is also detrimental to the social and cultural fabric of the peoples of the world in a variety of ways involving the agricultural industry and global development should also be carefully regulated and controlled. The researchers cite actions taken in other countries along the same lines as a further justification of their call for more control when it comes to sugar content and consumption, and clearly spell out some of the concrete harms that increased sugar consumption has had and will have on the world's population, not just in developed/industrialized countries but in all countries adopting similar diets. This adds up to a very compelling picture of the threat that sugar specifically and "junk food" (calorie-dense and nutritionally-lacking consumables) generally constitutes to the world population.

Many areas in the world are unable to grow crops at all. (Source F ) Most will be unable to provide more than 2-3 viable food options. The way we circumvent this is by buying these items from other areas. The fact of the matter is there is no such thing as “locally grown” coconuts in Texas. There is no “farm to table” products in the Sahara. (Source E) It’s a practice which is unfortunately impractical in a large part of the world.

Fair Trade’s consumer recognition has tripled in the last five years, proving the company’s sustainability in a global market. As of today, this organization works with more than 800 companies to verify more than 6,000 products as Fair Trade. In 2009, Fair Trade Certified products generated $1.2 billion in retail sales, indicating their large-scale business practices.

Cooperate Social Responsibility has now become one of the most essential cooperate goals for organizations. They are now being increasingly scrutinized by the way in which society’s moral and ethical values are met. Ethical consumerism is the practise of purchasing products and services manufactured or produced in a way that minimises social and ecological damage. Ethical consumerism addresses these social and environmental consequences of global trade surrounding various categories including people, environment, animals and politics.

Although the United States produces the fifth most amount of sugar, the amount of sugar farms (under 6,000) is a very small fraction of the 2.2 million farms in the United States. Therefore, these sugar farmers are producing an extremely large amount of sugar and making an extremely large amount of money. However, this is actually less than one percent of the cash receipts for all farmers in the United States. With this information, I do not believe that the US Sugar Policy is trying to hurt consumers purposefully strictly for the interest of sugar farmers.

This case talks about Fair Trade USA which is one of the leading certifier of fair trade products in North America. Fair Trade USA was founded by Paul Rice in 1998. From a non profit organization, Fair Trade USA growth has been phenomenal. Initially after first year of its inception, it started certifying one million pounds of coffee. Today it is certifying more than 1 billion pounds of coffee per day.

Fair Trade Coffee Fair Trade promotes socially and environmentally sustainable techniques and long-term relationships between producers, traders and consumers The world coffee industry is in crisis. A flood of cheap, lower-quality coffee beans have pushed world market prices down to a 30-year low. Many now earn less for their crop than it cost them to grow. Many coffee farmers around the world receive market payments that are lower than the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debtWithout urgent action, 25 million coffee growers' face ruin.

To support the wide range of products on sale, a key selling point will be the personal advice and information that can be given on the products, exactly where in the world they have come from and who produced them. This gives the customers confidence to buy into the Fair Trade ideals and encourage repeat purchase in this shop above others. Information leaflets on the products and the various Fair Trade organisations, along with guidance on where to go for further information, will back this up. The Internet website will inform customers in the same way and provide links to the best Fair Trade information

There are variety of ethical challenges that FLO is trying to address and since inception in 1988, have managed to solve some of them. They also comprise the challenges that befell farmers while using the traditional approach. The first ethical issue that FLO tries to address is transparency. Transparency shows a true reflection of facts as they are and this ways prevents situations of mistrust. The concept of transparency is linked to good corporate governance. In this situations, the companies and middle men that form the agricultural chain supply should provide farmers with the right market prices for their produce and supply the right input to ensure efficiency. For instance, if they are providing high-yielding seeds they should so and not take low-yields and pass them as high-yield. According to Nayak (2014), the conventional system has continued to increase the number of middlemen and this has increased the opportunities for cartels who reduce the prices for farmers and increase the prices for consumers. FLO ‘s goal is to provide accurate and comprehensive information in an accessible manner. According to the website, “all terms and conditions of Fairtrade transactions are detailed in contracts” which are signed by both the farmers and buyers (Fairtrade International 2016).

From the graph, cocoa farmers are severely underpaid. Under the fairtrade agreement, farmers can now receive a fair price for their cocoa. Whittaker’s has two fairtrade agreements for their dark chocolate, allowing them to paint an ethical picture of their company. This would attract consumers who are concerned about the origins of their food. (Lindsay

It is argued, that if the global north is able to dominate the increases in agricultural trade due to free trade, specifically infiltrating globally southern markets, it will perhaps negatively effect improvements of efficiency in global south agricultural spheres (Beachy 2011). Additionally, it is argued, that due to the U.S., as well as other globally northern nations using subsides, they are able to sell their own nations product at lower prices, and effectively close off trading markets for developing nations (Clemmitt 2008). An example of this practice in the real world involves analyzing corn trade in North America. Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been put in place, Mexican corn farmers have seen losses in their business (Beachy 2011). Additionally, the U.S. has seen larger gains in corn exports, specifically inside Mexico (Wu and Guclu 2013). This is a real world example, which represents one of the major concerns in expanding free trade, that it will ultimately be exploited by nations in the global north. Additionally for these smaller farmers, especially in developing nations who cannot compete with these conditions, poverty has been seen to increase for these people (Kendall and Petracco 2009). Beachy argues this to be one of the major indictments of the free trade system in improving food security, a greater number of citizens in the developing world

Fair trade is a label that businesses who follow certain criteria for environmental and labor standards can purchase. According to the network of Four Fair Trade organizations, ‘‘Fairtrade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, that seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of,

According to the Cambridge Dictionary (2014), fairtrade is ‘ a way of selling or buying a product that makes certain that the people who produce the goods receive a fair trade’. Coffee producers’ products are not necessarily produced to organic standards (Global fairtrade, 2010). Nowadays, coffee is one of the most popular beverages in the world. Eighty-percent of the coffee products in the world market are made by twenty-five million small holders (fairtrade, 2012). Around one hundred and twenty five million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihood. There are seven million and nine hundred thousand tonnes of coffee produced per year and six million and two hundred thousand of these are for import (fairtrade, 2014).