Fair Trade USA
Much like FLO, Fair Trade USA is a non-profit organisation setting up standards for certifying fair trade products. The organisation was formed in 1998 as TransFair USA, and has been led ever since by it's current CEO, Paul Rice.
With the launch of their 2011 campaign "Fair Trade for All", Fair Trade USA plays an important role in the controversy on whether coffee grown on plantations can be named as fair trade. Whilst launching the campaign, Fair Trade USA at the same time disembedded itself from the FLO network which they previously had been a part of since the founding of TransFair USA.
As seen on the map the immediate networks of Fair Trade USA and FLO are completely different. There is only one other actor being categorized in the color group of Fair Trade USA ("Be Fair" is Fair Trade USA's blog). Fair Trade USA refers instead to different retailers of their products and international organizations who are engaged in their work.
Unlike FLO, Fair Trade USA does not use one single external certification organ, like FLO-Cert. In the case with certification of certifying Ipanema Coffees, Fair Trade USA uses SCS Gobal Services to audit whether they comply with their standards for fair trade. Like its name indicates, SCS Global Services are operating on a global level, having auditing services based in a lot of countries around the globe.
With the launch of their 2011 campaign "Fair Trade for All", Fair Trade USA plays an important role in the controversy on whether coffee grown on plantations can be named as fair trade. Whilst launching the campaign, Fair Trade USA at the same time disembedded itself from the FLO network which they previously had been a part of since the founding of TransFair USA.
As seen on the map the immediate networks of Fair Trade USA and FLO are completely different. There is only one other actor being categorized in the color group of Fair Trade USA ("Be Fair" is Fair Trade USA's blog). Fair Trade USA refers instead to different retailers of their products and international organizations who are engaged in their work.
Unlike FLO, Fair Trade USA does not use one single external certification organ, like FLO-Cert. In the case with certification of certifying Ipanema Coffees, Fair Trade USA uses SCS Gobal Services to audit whether they comply with their standards for fair trade. Like its name indicates, SCS Global Services are operating on a global level, having auditing services based in a lot of countries around the globe.
Fair Trade USA's stand on plantation grown coffee
This controversy has its point of departure in Fair Trade USA's decision to certify coffee plantations under their Fair Trade for All campaign, happening concurrently with their resignition from Fairtrade International. From a belief that fair trade certificates are being applied inconsistently (FLO certifies some plantation grown products, like tea, and refuse to certify other plantation grown products, like coffee), Fair Trade for All was designed to reach 4 million farmers working on coffee plantations globally, who did not benefit from fair trade certifications beforehand.
At the moment Fair Trade USA certifies smallholders organized in cooperatives and farm workers organized in committees by two different sets of standards, but they are currently working towards combining the two sets of standards. This new set of standards will be applied to all agricultural production. |
"in our view, small is not beautiful" |