Disadvantages Of Fair Trade

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

Threat of Substitutes: There are various substitutes for fair trade coffee in the industry such as regular coffee, tea etc but not only coffees but in the general beverages market e.g. Coca Cola, Water etc. As a result of this there is a very high threat of substitutes.

The bizarre economy that we live in has affected us in many ways than our simple mind can fathom. After World War II there was massive push in innovation. Human were gifted with inventions like the Airplane, color T.V., polyvinyl cups, and precooked dinners. Nevertheless, these “gifts” came at an enormous cost. That cost was pushed onto the environment and people living in that environment. “The Market Economy” by Marge Piercy illustrates the movement in American aimed at bring attention to a global problem as well as an effort to save the planet along with the people living on it.

As a nation we all participate in daily consumption of food, clothing, shelter and some sort of transportation. to survive. We are destroying our environment with waist. On average Americans disposed over 200,000 tons of edible food daily. Pollute our air and water, destroy our forest, just so we can drive the newest car or have the latest crafted oak furniture We use top soil to build malls, so people can consume even more. In "The shadows of Consumption, Peter Dauvergne explain the coast of consumption by globalized corporations, trade, and finance." (Dauvergne, Peter. The Shadows of Consumption: Consequences for the Global Environment. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. ).

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.).

For every upside, there is a downside, and this certainly is the case for free trade in Canada. The successes listed above, also appeared in the United States and Mexico, which impacted our country. For every job that was created for them, some were lost elsewhere. Ontario, in result of jobs created elsewhere,:

It cannot be denied that, in at least some areas, the invention and progression of technology has benefitted the human race. With the growing industrialization of the world in the last centuries the lives of many people have been made easier. But, this growth of technology is not without its consequences and people are not without their concerns. While industrialization has had its benefits, the environmental cost of this progress is immense, and the impact it has on nature can be hard to swallow. It may seem like talk of the environment is something to be left to scientists or activists specializing in that particular field, but they are

As a country, Americans love to shop. Whether in malls, grocery stores, on the Internet, or elsewhere, the culture of buying is deeply ingrained in American culture. Fueled largely by advertising and the current credit system, America’s consumer culture is depleting our planet’s finite natural resources and polluting our environment. Consumerism has instilled in Americans an artificial, ongoing, and insatiable desire for mass-produced and marketed products, and the money with which to buy them, with little regard to their actual usefulness or necessity. This constant desire to acquire more possessions is poisoning the planet, as it can never be sated and thus results in the never-ending exploitation of the Earth’s natural resources, and

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.

Following Meskela’s journey, the film demonstrates the power held by multinational corporations (MNCs) in setting the price of coffee. He wants a solution, but what happens with commodity traders, the international coffee exchanges, and the World Trade Organization (WTO), he is faced with challenges in finding that. Meskela worked diligently to eliminate the players who tend to come in between the buyers and the sellers. Instead, he went directly to the buyers to ask for a fair price. The fair-trade movement embraced his cause as they work to bring supposedly fairly-traded commodities to grocery stores in America.

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.

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).

Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations, shows support for free trade and emphasises it as a trade policy which ought to be adopted. Krugman and Obstfeld back Smith's support by stating that the efficiency of trade is increased by free trade and accumulates the national income of countries. Free trade is a theory which suggests that each nation benefits in specialising in an economic activity from which it gains absolute advantage, enjoying absolute superiority over other nations in a specif economical activity (Peng). With free trade follows opportunity, replacing regulation and growth of economic activity. (Rugmann and Collinson).

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

According to world economic globalization, approximately all countries were enthusiastic about trade liberalization, which promised a higher economic growth, development of macroeconomic objectives including trade competitiveness, effective use of resources etc. Trade Liberalization was firstly submitted by Adam Smith in the "Wealth of Nations" (1776) and the first application of the principle was done in England in 1846 (Eddy Lee ,,Trade Liberalization and Employment,,). After that, the benefits of trade liberalization was accepted by all multilateral institutions, namely WTO, IMT, World Bank, OECD etc. As the regulator of the international trade, the major function of WTO is to make the trade issues as easy as possible and encourage