Giving Farmers a Fairer Shake
by Paul Shapiro | May 16, 2019 | Episode 19
Have you ever noticed the Fair Trade Certified logo on a package of food or drink you’ve bought? Did you wonder what it meant? We certainly have, and we bet you’ve wondered about it, too.
Paul Rice has devoted his life to trying to give the farmers who grow our food a fairer shake. That crusade has taken him from the coffee farms of Nicaragua to founding his own certification program for fair trade that now certifies a wide variety of products you probably buy all the time, from coffee and tea to sugar and even clothing.
Yet Paul offers a realistic take on the impact of his life’s mission so far, expressing optimism about the progress made, but suggesting that the plight of coffee-growers isn’t really much better today than when he started out decades ago.
In this episode, we look at a nonprofit that exists to help businesses do better in their sourcing, creating a fairer marketplace for those at the bottom of the economic ladder.
Resources discussed in this episode
Paul Rice’s organization, Fair Trade USA
Some of Patagonia’s clothing is certified by Fair Trade USA
All of Honest Tea’s products are Fair Trade Certified
Target is embracing the Fair Trade Certified program for its private line coffee
We discuss past episodes on Business for Good, including Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman, Whole Foods Market’s John Mackey, and McDonald’s Bob Langert