W ell, are we? You tell me.
Long ago and not so far away, Fair Trade was the hot topic. People oogled over where coffee came from, searching for a tiny emblem that signified if it was fair trade certified or not. Fair traded seemed to be a move in the right direction; give workers and subsistence farmers in other nations what was "fair" and everyone wins. We get our coffee, chocolates and olive oils. They get "livable wages." Then the back lash appeared as fair trade turned out not to be so fair. All the while the local sustainable movement was gaining strength. Though the two are rarely to ever spoken about in the same conversation, anyone fighting for good food for all should have some idea of why each matters in its own right as well as a whole.
Sticking to the 100-mile diet, or preaching about buying everything at farmer's markets is all worth applauding, yet what is being left out of this picture? "Think global, Eat local" really does not apply unless you actually do think globally. To think globally would push us to consider the other fights going on in food that have been hushed as we push the more reachable or acceptable debates in our own societies. NYC is all about the local movement with upstate New York producing almost every edible we might need. Restaurants have rooftop gardens. Farmers have fans and all seems right as we "vote with our dollars" in the city that never sleeps. The Green Market is alive and thriving. Though, should be so selfish to forget the other fights we do not want to fess up to? Coffee, chocolate, olive oils, exotic fruits, many wines…these are food goods I would bet you use almost daily yet walk around canvas bag clad telling of how you eat food from local vendors. You have gotten half the picture right, and you even get accolades for buying directly from farmers so that 100% of the profits go to your local market sellers. Yet, what other farmers are you using that might get a few cents from all their work and labor? Who might live in communities where clean water and education are luxuries? Who spend their days growing your food and cannot feed their own families?
Though both systems are flawed in that many farmers do not want your money but your time, support and what I call "customer aid" where helping with a crop turn over would be more beneficial than waiting for a solo farmer to harvest an entire crop and you pillage through it at the market, bartering for lower prices on the peaches. Give help where help is needed and wanted. In fair trade, the specific need was found. With food production being a worldwide industry currently, America can easily think with tunnel vision that we are the only people existing. Even our main stream media and news outlets speak of world issues but focus on us. We hear of wars and bombs, death and dealings, yet the day to day lives of people in foreign lands is rarely made much ado about. Food, who has it and who does not along with who is producing which items, can be shuffled under other stories and information. Fair trade sought to help those who were not being seen through the course of middle men, buyers and companies that work together to import and export food goods.
This system started with good enough intentions. Investigating cacao and chocolate for the chapter of "The Reality of Chocolate" I wrote, I started to wonder why people never talked about fair trade anymore. I also realized that people fall into categories in food fights, all connected yet so disjointed, segregated by cause. Judgmental to those in same mind set just called by a different name, though nothing will be achieved if we continue in this better-than system of logic. Fair trade developed a poor name as the practices that should have been put into practice were failing under the many hands reaching up from lineage of production. Coffee started to expose this as it was a staple in our culture and society that is bought, sold and brewed in mass quantities. Finding the source of our coffee and how we obtained it became a very viable place to put fair trade practices to work. The case was the same for chocolate or should I say cacao, the bean that starts the entire process that has become our luxury. ( For the Entire Chocolate Chapter )
As fair trade organizations noticed and responded to these situations, they still push for what they intended to achieve. Like our food system in general, whether home grown agriculture concerns or lands abroad, the problem took about 150 years to get this messed up. It will take us about the same to get it all cleaned up. Buying locally is only going to solve part of the problem unless you stop eating everything else that cannot be produced in your local area. Restaurants will tell you flat out this is not possible and do the best they can. With a food system that so many in other countries do count on as small rural farmers in their own lands, fair trade is an important step to solving food problems that are bigger than just buying locally. If you support farmers in your region with your full amount of pay why not also support farmers at a much larger disadvantage in other countries?
Flaws of our entire food system that combine what bothers local-vores and fair trade supporters rest in the need to have transparency in democracy. Especially aspects that govern food. Practices and prices need to be standardized, with less mystery and hidden agendas in governmental realms. In the end, our goal in food is move the producer and consumer closer together. A noble goal we must fight from all lines of food production. I leave you with these closing thoughts of my piece on chocolate which I think unite all our views into one:
Is all fair in love and chocolate?
This is not a question that can be fully answered as each situation is different with many levels of agreements, individuals and production being involved. Reports differ from source to source and the only real way to see would be to visit the farms yourself (which is possible and I encourage anyone with the piqued interest and means to do so to reach out in this way.) The best we can do is to make ourselves aware of where our food comes from and who might be working hard without thanks. The World Bank reports that an estimated 2.7 billion people exist on less than $2 a day. Fair Trade chocolate (and coffee and nuts and grains to build on a theme and method of conscious consumption) is a decent first step. Sourcing out smaller companies who buy straight from the farmers or work with a single farm is even more worthwhile. Choices like these not only behoove people and the environment, but also your health and well being. The quality of organic chocolate is far better as just taking the time to have an organic product means a little more thought was put into it. With all the talk of beans and bars, farmers and producers, at the end of the day all that is needed is to savor your chocolate from start to finish consciously.
