The other day, while I was shoveling a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream down my throat, something on the label caught my eye. The ice cream was made with “Fair Trade Vanilla.” I had never heard of that company. After checking into it further, I learned “fair trade” is not a company, but rather a certification. It basically means the farmer that produced the vanilla, got a fair price for it. The Fair Trade Certification website points out that there’s more to it than that, but the basic principal is that the farmers, most of which live in poverty, will be able to not only make a decent living, but a profitable business. The fair trade certification is available to more than vanilla producers; coffee, tea and herbs, cocoa and chocolate, fresh fruit, sugar and rice are all eligible for a Fair Trade Certification.
I know I’m a “Johnny Come Lately” on this one. Apparently, the first attempts to create a fair trade market were made in the 1940s. The model that finally stuck was shaped in Europe in the 1960s. But in keeping with the “better late than never” philosophy, I got to thinking, if we had more socially conscience companies, like Ben & Jerry’s, we could cut down on some of the issues plaguing this country like illegal immigration (people wouldn’t need to sneak into this country to make a decent living), tainted food products (producers wouldn’t have to cut corners to stretch a dollar), etc. Yes, we would pay more for products, but as I said in an early blog post, you get what you pay for.
Comments (1)
Very interesting... as always! Cheers from -Switzerland-.
Posted by Dog training | November 25, 2007 11:33 AM
Posted on November 25, 2007 11:33