SUMMER 2003

What is Fair Trade? What is certified?

Fair Trade is a term that describes international efforts that began in the 1940s. Community nonprofit organizations and churches supported efforts to buy goods directly from refugees of war so that craftspeople and other producers could reap maximum profit for their work.

In 1988, a Dutch group introduced the first Fair Trade coffee. By the late 1990s, Fair Trade Certified came to mean coffee that has been certified by Fairtrade Labeling Organizations International (FLO), a group that visits farmer cooperatives and verifies that farmers are receiving a fair price.

In North America, Fair Trade certifed coffee usually bears this logo:

For more information on certification:
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International aims to standardize certifiaction and labeling under a single international fair trade symbol. http://www.fairtrade.net

© 2003 El Andar Magazine