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It's really in those third and fourth parts of the equation where critics of the international Fairtrade system have the most complaints. One common critique says that the small co-ops in poor, rural countries that form the backbone of Fairtrade producers are too often corrupt and neither "open" nor "democratic." FLO, however, has a rigorous certification process conducted by a separate company named FLOCERT. Through an on-site initial inspection and numerous followups, auditors from FLO-CERT make sure that all the social and environmental standards are met by the producers' organization, and FLO-CERT checks the books to ensure that the farmers actually receive their Fairtrade minimum price and the organization used its premium in an honest fashion. Other critics of FLO may have the same ultimate goals in mind— reducing poverty and improving lives through better trading conditions— but a different vision on how to achieve them. That conflict has most recently been played out in the split between Fairtrade International and Fair Trade USA, where the national labeling initiative, Fair Trade USA, wanted to establish different standards for certifying products than the international organization. The specific point of argument for Fair Trade USA and the international Fairtrade system in coffee came from the disagreement over whether to certify privately held farms, commonly called estates. Fair Trade USA came down on the yes side, while the broader Fair Trade movement said no. Still another criticism is the confusion that the different labels can cause for consumers. Is Fairtrade organic? Often, but not necessarily. Is Fair Trade better than Fairtrade or Direct Trade? It's like asking if a seat belt is better than an air bag. They're different, but consumers have to rank their effectiveness for themselves. They each mean something different. Most of the time, in these efforts, certified or not, the intent is the same, to create a new system of commerce that doesn't leave so many people out of the benefits. These efforts are acting on a similar impulse by the international Fairtrade system or Fair Trade USA, and they embrace many of the concepts of the organizations such as developing relationships with farmers, paying premium prices above the commodity market, investing in the farmers' futures and crop quality. It's fair trade, but not Fairtrade, and not Fair Trade. So yeah, it gets a bit sloppy, but it also seems like a natural outgrowth for a movement that started in so many different places under so many different names with a single dream at its core: to change the world for the better. "How do you really change trade to put the farmers and producers first?" asks Lamb. "This is a struggle for decades, maybe centuries. No one should ever think fair trade is a magic wand that can solve every problem. We're talking centuries of injustice we're trying to remedy." And it's something, she says, that everyone has a stake in. "This is such a long process that we're trying to do. It's why it's so important that we work together. It's our collective effort to change the way trade works—to end what I think is a scandal." The scandal is this: In 2013 more than 2 billion people around the world, many of whom work in difficult and demanding conditions, survive on less than $2 a day. Most of them were born into poverty, and most of them (and their children) will live in that same level of grinding poverty for their entire lives, unless the cycle can be broken. In coffee production, most farmers work with an annual product, meaning they only get one harvest a year—one chance to sell and make money. Facing a fickle market where the price today may be vastly different than the price tomorrow, farmers have a very difficult time planning or investing in the future. Often before the harvest, farmers run out of cash. They can sell their coffee green on the trees, for a terrible price—think of payday loans—to get some money in their pockets, but then they fall further into debt. The international Fairtrade model is one tool to help farmers out of that trap, and perhaps that's why coffee is where Fairtrade has been so effective. Kyle Freund, liaison manager and communication liason manager at Fairtrade International reports, "There are 580,000 coffee farmers in the Fairtrade system, and the average farmer cultivates about 3.45 acres." "Coffee is by far our biggest product by terms of value," Lamb says, "and in terms of numbers of small farmers. It's the iconic product that people identify with fair trade." As Fairtrade International seeks to expand its reach, it has officers in the field who are out educating growers about the model and its benefits, how to improve their organazations, and build capacity. Byers explains, www.baristamagazine.com 69