From: Dr Sebby (drsebby@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jan 19 2004 - 22:31:57 MST
...if you think about it, a large portion of "middle men" are extremely
uneccessary. instead of middle men that perform some crucial mediary or
non-partisan task, i would wager that many merely create a spot for
themselves with fair dealings, and then manipulate things so as to make
their job little more than a neccessary evil. i pay 5$/lb for my
coffee(kenyan) at trader joe's and i would be willing to bet that that is
enough to cover the growers costs & profits, import taxes(low for coffee),
and trader joe's profit mark-up. so if what you are saying is true, then
there is likely some middle-man doing nothing for his money other than
threatening (e.g."i have exclusive rights with trader joe's as a buyer, so
if you want to sell your coffee there, you have to deal with me, and i want
"x" price or fuck off.")
that is a case of curable un-fair market practise. excise the middle man
and make their specific shady activities illegal.
DrSebby.
"Courage...and shuffle the cards".
----Original Message Follows----
From: "David Lucifer" <david@lucifer.com>
Reply-To: virus@lucifer.com
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: Re:virus: Fair trade?
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 15:51:03 -0700
Here's the kind of fair trade I was asking about (from
http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/coffee/)
Coffee is the second largest US import after oil, and the US consumes
one-fifth of all the world's coffee, making it the largest consumer in the
world. But few Americans realize that agriculture workers in the coffee
industry often toil in what can be described as "sweatshops in the fields."
Many small coffee farmers receive prices for their coffee that are less than
the costs of production, forcing them into a cycle of poverty and debt.
Fair Trade is a viable solution to this crisis, assuring consumers that the
coffee we drink was purchased under fair conditions. To become Fair Trade
certified, an importer must meet stringent international criteria; paying a
minimum price per pound of $1.26, providing much needed credit to farmers,
and providing technical assistance such as help transitioning to organic
farming. Fair Trade for coffee farmers means community development, health,
education, and environmental stewardship
My question is why on earth would the coffee farmers sell for less than the
costs of production over an extended period? Where does the minimum price of
$1.26/lb come from? Who decides what is a "fair" price?
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