After traveling to a couple different coffee plantations i got a good feel for what coffee is about in Costa Rica. I saw both the large production based coffee company, and the small quality based farmer in the mountains. There is something that Costa Rica does in terms of coffee that is very origional and having a large impact on the country. This is called fair trade.
The Fair Trade agreement guarantees a minimum of $1.26 per pound of coffee and access to credit at fair prices to poor farmers. The fair trade payments that go along with the agreement are invested in food, shelter, health care, education, environmental stewardship, and economic independence. The focus of Fair Trade is to create trust and a relationship between the producers, buyers, and customers were previously lost. This new system has many key advantages.
· First it gives the poorer farmers a chance to compete in the competitive market, when they would not be able to with other systems
· The agreement also allows more independence to farmers which allow them to grow and become better at dealing with business.
·They also provide money for free primary schools and health care, which really help the people who are not earning enough to send their children to school.
· Fair trade can provide financing to famers pre and during harvest which keeps the smaller farms from being overrun by the larger companies.
· With the set wage, there can be no gender discrimination which is socially a large step forward for the country.
· To be part of fair trade, farms must past certain standards from an environmental aspect. This protects the surrounding regions and stops pollution that was once a large issue.
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