Around the world, big corporations aiming for huge profits sell many regular daily products that are originally produced in developing countries.
Whilst such corporations make money, the farmers that originally slog through out the day to earn minimum wage and sell their products to such businesses go to sleep on an empty stomach. Fairly traded goods do not necessarily have different percentages to non-Fair-trade goods, but they guarantee farmers receive a certain income
Fair trade is an international movement, which aims to bring equality and justice to producers in developing countries by exposing them to better trading conditions and promote sustainability. This movement’s focal point remains household and edible commodities (such as sugar, rice, tea, chocolate, honey, cotton and gold) that are usually produced in developing countries such as South Africa and India and are then exported to developed nations such as the United States of America and the United Kingdom or even consumed in domestic markets. This movement hopes to pursue even-handedness in trading done internationally by maintaining transparency, respect and communication between both the parties. It encourages sustainable development by providing improved knowledge of trading and its conditions to the producers and securing the entitlement of the rights of depreciated producers and labours in third world.
The four prime organizations working towards the trade equality are:
FINE: Fair trade labeling
Fair trade is a market reactive system that wants to abolish global inhumane acts from child labor, poor working environments, low wages, and healthy working conditions. Fair Trade does not control the prices at a local level the producers
Robert Lansing address how Great Britian would capture ships and inconveniently take them to British ports for inspection (Doc 3). America’s Trade during the War fell, because the British would take the ships in fear that they were war ships attacking them. This led to a decline in Wilson’s Free Trade. The cargo on the ships was used by the time the British ports let the ship free, causing a major disruption in our economy. The report from the American Customs Inspector conveys how the Lusitania was in fact loaded with ammunition (Doc 6).
Fair-trade is a trading partnership that focuses on sustainable development for poorer producers. they do this by providing better trading conditions and raising awareness of their situation.
In conclusion, the topic of free trade is difficult to debate and often controversial as it has advantages but also disadvantages. Nonetheless, the drawbacks outweigh the benefits as it one, contravenes basic moral ideologies, two, makes the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer, and three, jeopardizes our declining environment. All in all, free trade will neither support nor sustain our country to be ethical, prosperous or
According to Lyon, Bezaury, & Mutersbaugh (2010), Fair-trade is a “process which helps improve the well-being and economic stability of disempowered farmers, by using certified commodity-chains to foster development”. For the KHC company, Fair-trade is essential because they want to provide and endorse exceptional coffee beans that they are proud to use; that means, “using coffee that is good and fair for both our coffee drinkers and for farmers are essential” (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.). In fact, over the past 20 years, Kicking Horse won numerous awards in many categories, including Canada’s Fastest- Growing Companies, Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs, Canada's Favourite Fair-trade Product and number 15 Best Workplace in Canada (Kicking Horse Coffee, n.d.).
Being an entirely fair trade company means Just Us pays its suppliers from so-called “third world” countries a fair price, including a premium for social welfare, gets into long-term contracts (equal or more then a harvest cycle) with them skipping middlemen who often absorb most of the margin and offers them additional benefits e.g. pre-payment and loans. “The
“Free trade is not passé, but is an idea that has irretrievably lost its innocence” (Krugman, 1987, p.132). In his article, Is Free Trade Passé, Paul Krugman writes that the classical trade theory has been replaced with a new trade theory. The classical trade theory is based on constant returns to scale and perfect competition, is driven by comparative advantage, and endorses free trade. This classical theory emphasized the idea that trade was brought about by differences in tastes, technology, or factor endowments between countries (Krugman, 1987). However, the new theory of international trade is driven by increasing returns to scale, also known as economies of scale, and leads to imperfect competition (Carbaugh, 2011).
Personally, I have not heard of many organizations introduced to me, but I would like to know more about some of them. I would like to know more about “Fair Trade.” According to Kelsey Fair Trade is that, “A portion of every Fair Trade sale goes directly back to the organization’s designated community development fund, which allows members to vote democratically on how to use the premium. Fair Trade certification is earned by the groups of farmers, generally organized into cooperatives that have met a long list of social and environmental guidelines. These guidelines facilitate sustainable development while ensuring that a higher price, a fair price, is paid to the farmers in return for the improvements.” (Timmerman 52). I know a basic understanding of Fair Trade Certification, but I would like to know more. Another thing that I would love to know more about is the people actually risking their lives to get my food. Before reading this book, I did not quite understand the difficulties the farmers, divers, etc actually went through just to make a small living. Being a consumer means that we don’t have to go through those difficulties, so since that is I would like to learn much more about those farmers and their lives
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.
Free Trade is the ability to trade goods and services without barriers, and for prices to rise naturally through supply and demand. In theory, Free Trade was a way to break down the barriers between countries, banishing taxes and allowing prices to be naturally set through supply and demand. According to the World Trade Organization, this gives the poor countries the opportunity to specialize in the production of goods that derive from their environment and natural resources with the capacity to sell those same goods to the western world, while being able to buy back goods that may not produced in their native country. This idea is to be beneficial to all; however, the rich become richer while the poor remain poor.
International trade is defined as trade between two or more partners from different countries in the exchange of goods and services. In order to understand International trade, we need to first know and understand what trade is, which is the buying and selling of products between different countries. International Trade simply is globalization of the world and enables countries to obtain products and services from other countries effortlessly and expediently.
2009). This in itself shows the high standards of sustainability can be made from free trade (Gidney, M. 2009). Fair trade provides two key benefits that can help with the current world economic crisis. First it provides sustained benefits for producers that can help maintain their business through fluctuations of the world market (Gidney, M. 2009). Second, fair trade helps to maintain fair prices, additional social premium, and long-term partnerships that help provide better living standards for millions of people in over 60 countries (Gidney, M. 2009).
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
The fair trade concept, based on the idea of both economic activity and social development, is replete with ethical and sustainable echoes. Ransom (2002 p 20) asks, 'can the
Global companies source their raw materials and outsource manufacturing of their products to many countries to take advantage of lower costs or high quality production, and/or lower costs of