A Furor over Fair Trade

Fairtrade International brings together retailers and other marketers in wealthy countries with small-scale producers of foods in the developing world. The organization’s goal is to ensure the ethical treatment of workers. Retailers in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere can then sell these products as Fairtrade-labeled. Small farmers find affluent customers, who reap the satisfaction of knowing their purchases are helping a person, not an enormous, faceless agro-corporation. Last year $6 billion worth of Fairtrade-approved goods were sold globally, up 27 percent from 2009.

There’s trouble in this utopia, though. Fair Trade USA, the largest American group, announced on Sept. 15 that it would split off from its international peers and Fairtrade International in Bonn, which coordinates groups worldwide and imposes the standards that make fair trade such a powerful force. Fair Trade USA has started a separate label that retailers can use to boost sales of coffee, chocolate, and fruits worldwide.