There are a number of different ways to interpret what is fair. However, it stands to reason that the people who grow the coffee you drink in the morning should not be condemned to live in poverty for their efforts. The Fair Trade Model is not limited solely to beverages. It can and is used for food, clothing and crafts.

Here at Equal Exchange our commitment to Fair Trade has existed as the core values and framework from which the company has been built.

Our Commitment

• To offer consumers the finest in gourmet and certified organic products.


• To always pay a fair price to the farmer, including a guaranteed minimum when market prices are low, and above market premiums for quality and certified organic products.


• To work directly with democratically run farming cooperatives - businesses that are owned and governed by the farmers - so that the benefits of trade actually reach the farmers and their communities.


• To provide vital advanced credit to farmers, which is normally unavailable or offered at prohibitive rates. Credit provides income between harvests and helps farmers stay out of debt.


• To encourage ecologically sustainable farming practices that help build a long-term economic base for farmers while protecting their communities, the environment and consumers from dangerous chemicals.


• To develop long-term trade relations based on trust and respect.

History of Fair Trade

Fair Trade started with individual companies called ATOs (Alternative Trade Organizations) who made a commitment to work directly with indigenous peoples and to market their products directly to end consumers. By cutting out middlemen, ATOs have been able to pay producers substantially more while offering a competitive product.

Later, organizations like IFAT (International Federation of Alternative Trade) were formed to communicate ideas about Fair Trade. And with the introduction of Fair Trade certification organizations like TransFair USA, products from around the world started to be certified as fairly traded. In an endeavor to place a world standard on what is fair, these labeling organizations came together and formed FLO (Fairtrade Labelling Organizations).

Under the FLO system, each labeling organization is given votes based on the volume of fairly traded products they certify. FLO takes knowledge about an industry, and with input from producers, determines a minimum price that should be paid in order to give a fair share to producers. In the coffee industry, this minimum price is $1.31 per pound with a premium paid above market rate when it exceeds this amount.

How Fair Trade Benefits Small Farmers

Fair Trade provides the means for small farmers to make enough money to support themselves while using the premiums to improve their standard of living. Fair Trade is not a charity or handout; it is simply a process of giving a fair exchange.

Equal Exchange not only provides fairly traded products, we also offer a fair price to you the consumer. By cutting out the middlemen, Equal Exchange pays the farmers more and gives you a better value.

The following is a quote about the importance of Fair Trade to third world farmers:

We in Latin America have a task before us which is staggering to the imagination- illiteracy to be eliminated, disease to be wiped out, good health to be restored, a sound program of nutrition to be worked out for millions of people. The key to all of this... is an equitable price for coffee. If they could secure a fair price, they could work a "miracle" similar to the thriving United States. If coffee cannot receive an equitable price, then you cast these millions of persons loose to drift in a perilous sea of poverty and privation, subject to every chilling wind, every subversive blast.
- Andres Uribe (former chairman of the Pan American Coffee Bureau)

Quoted from: Pendergrast, Mark. Uncommon Grounds. New York: Basic Books, 1999.

How You Can Help Support Fair Trade in the United States

The easiest way to support Fair Trade is to purchase fairly traded products. Your actions as a consumer support or discourage actions by businesses. By making the choice to buy fairly traded products you help provide health care, education and a better lifestyle for farmers, workers, and artisans around the world. Look for products produced by Equal Exchange or other Fair Trade vendors and join millions of other socially conscious consumers across the United States in becoming a "fair trader."