What is Fair Trade Coffee?

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Fair Trade is an innovative, market-based approach to sustainability that restores balance to the power dynamic in the coffee supply chain. Fair Trade Certified™ means co-ops and their farmers get a fair price for their beans. Every pound sold has a minimum price they can count on: $1.35 per pound for conventionally grown; $1.55 per pound for organic. These prices exceed the co-op’s cost of production, increasing resources for health care and education and helping farmers feed their families

To qualify for Fair Trade certification, farmers must belong to a democratically organized co-op. Because they get a fair price, these small family farmers can grow coffee with respect for the community and the land, avoiding cost-cutting practices that sacrifice quality and the environment’s health.

Through Fair Trade, many farmers have access to pre-harvest financing, an essential resource to sustainable business.

Fair Trade is effective because it’s transparent:

• TransFair USA monitors and promotes the purchase and sale of Fair Trade products in the United States.
• Certifiers from FLO‑CERT audit and verify the payment trail back to the co-op and the individual farmers.
• FLO’s independent certification organization, FLO‑CERT Ltd., makes annual inspection visits to Fair Trade producer groups to make sure that Fair Trade works — and that the benefits are reaching farmers and their families.

The thoroughness of the audit trail means that we know exactly who grew and produced the coffee, and what they’re paid for their products.

Fair Trade certification also includes strong environmental standards that promote conservation, agricultural diversification, biodiversity, responsible use and handling of agrochemicals, proper disposal of both organic and hazardous waste, land management, soil fertility, and the avoidance of genetically modified organisms.

According to TransFair USA, the majority of the Fair Trade Certified™ coffee sold in the U.S. is also shade-grown and certified organic, thus maintaining biodiversity, providing habitats for migratory birds, and slowing the pace of global warming. The majority of Fair Trade Certified™ coffee we sell is also certified organic by Quality Assurance International, an independent third-party organic certifier since 1989.

For the best Fair Trade coffees, at the best prices, visit www.GourmetCoffee.com!