Editing Fair trade (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of fair trade}}
The first attempts to commercialize fair trade goods in markets in the [[Global North and Global South#Definition|global north]] were initiated in the 1940s and 1950s by religious groups and various politically oriented [[non-governmental organizations]] (NGOs). [[Ten Thousand Villages]], an NGO within the [[Mennonite Central Committee]] (MCC), and [[SERRV International]] were the first, in 1946 and 1949 respectively, to develop fair trade [[supply chain]]s in developing countries.<ref>{{Citation | title = History | url = http://www.ifat.org/fthistory/history3.shtml | publisher = IFAT | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061215142239/http://www.ifat.org/fthistory/history2.shtml | archive-date = 2006-12-15 }}</ref> The products, almost exclusively handicrafts ranging from [[jute]] goods to [[cross-stitch]] work, were mostly sold in churches or fairs. The goods themselves had often no other function than to indicate that a donation had been made.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = Unisg | title = Oikos foundation | url = http://www.oikos-foundation.unisg.ch/homepage/fairtrade.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060823071706/http://www.oikos-foundation.unisg.ch/homepage/fairtrade.pdf | archive-date = 2006-08-23 }}</ref>

=== Solidarity trade ===
[[File:Fair Trade Products.jpg|thumb|Fair trade goods sold in worldshops]]
The current fair trade movement was shaped in Europe in the 1960s. Fair trade during that period was often seen as a political gesture against neo-imperialism: radical student movements began targeting multinational corporations, and concerns emerged that traditional business models were fundamentally flawed. The slogan at the time, "Trade not Aid", gained international recognition in 1968 when it was adopted by the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development]] (UNCTAD) to put the emphasis on the establishment of fair trade relations with the developing world.<ref>{{cite web | archive-date = October 22, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141022065406/http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=17&limit=1&limitstart=1 | url = http://www.wfto.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=17&limit=1&limitstart=1 |title= Where did it all begin?| access-date = 24 June 2009 | date = 7 June 2009|publisher= WFTO}}</ref>

1965 saw the creation of the first [[alternative trading organization]] (ATO): that year, British NGO [[Oxfam]] launched "Helping-by-Selling", a program that sold imported handicrafts in Oxfam stores in the UK and from mail-order catalogues.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = One Village | place = Charlbury, UK | url = http://onevillage.org/fairtrade-history.htm | title = Fair trade history | last = Scott | first = Roy | date = 2003-03-07 | access-date = 2013-05-01 | archive-date = 2008-09-19 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080919024716/http://onevillage.org/fairtrade-history.htm | url-status = live }}</ref>

By 1968, the [[Whole Earth Catalog]] was connecting thousands of specialized merchants, artisans, and scientists directly with consumers who were interested in supporting independent producers, with the goal of bypassing corporate retail and department stores. The Whole Earth Catalog sought to balance the international free market by allowing direct purchasing of goods produced primarily in the U.S. and Canada but also in Central and South America.

In 1969, the first [[worldshop]] opened its doors in the Netherlands. It aimed at bringing the principles of fair trade to the retail sector by selling almost exclusively goods produced under fair trade terms in "underdeveloped regions". The first shop was run by volunteers and was so successful that dozens of similar shops soon went into business in the [[Benelux]] countries, Germany, and other Western European countries.

=== Handicrafts vs. agricultural goods ===
In the early 1980s, [[alternative trading organization]]s faced challenges: the novelty of fair trade products began to wear off, demand reached a plateau and some handicrafts began to look "tired and old fashioned" in the marketplace. The decline of segments of the handicrafts market forced fair trade supporters to rethink their business model and their goals. Moreover, several fair trade supporters were worried by the effect on small farmers of structural reforms in the agricultural sector as well as the fall in [[commodity]] prices. Many came to believe it was the movement's responsibility to address the issue and remedies usable in the ongoing crisis in the industry.{{clarify|date=March 2022}}

In subsequent years, fair trade agricultural commodities played an important role in the growth of many ATOs: successful on the market, they offered a source of income for producers and provided alternative trading organizations a complement to the handicrafts market. The first fair trade agricultural products were tea and coffee, followed by: dried fruits, cocoa, sugar, fruit juices, rice, spices and nuts. While in 1992, a sales value ratio of 80% handcrafts to 20% agricultural goods was the norm, in 2002 handcrafts amounted to 25% of fair trade sales while commodity food was up at 69%.<ref>Nicholls, A. & Opal, C. (2004). ''Fair Trade: Market-Driven Ethical Consumption''. London: Sage Publications.</ref>

=== Rise of labeling initiatives ===
[[File:Oldftlogos2.jpg|thumb|Early Fairtrade Certifications Marks from various countries]]<!-- FAIR USE of Oldftlogos2.jpg: see image description page at [[:File:Oldftlogos2.jpg]] for rationale -->Sales of fair trade products only took off with the arrival of the first [[Fairtrade certification]] initiatives. Although buoyed by growing sales, fair trade had been generally confined to small worldshops scattered across Europe and, to a lesser extent, North America. {{weasel inline|text=Some felt|date=March 2022}} that these shops were too disconnected from the rhythm and the lifestyle of contemporary developed societies. The inconvenience of going to them to buy only a product or two was too high even for the most dedicated customers. The only way to increase sale opportunities was to offer fair trade products where consumers normally shop, in large distribution channels.<ref>{{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/S0743-0167(02)00051-7 | last = Renard | first = M-C | year= 2003| title = Fair Trade: quality, market and conventions |journal=Journal of Rural Studies|volume=19 | issue = 1 | pages =87–96| bibcode = 2003JRurS..19...87R }}</ref> The problem was to find a way to expand distribution without compromising consumer trust in fair trade products and in their origins.

A solution was found in 1988, when the first fair trade certification initiative, [[Stichting Max Havelaar|Max Havelaar]], was created in the Netherlands under the initiative of [[Nico Roozen]], [[Frans Van Der Hoff]], and Dutch development NGO [[Solidaridad (charitable organization)|Solidaridad]]. The independent certification allowed the goods to be sold outside the worldshops and into the mainstream, reaching a larger consumer segment and boosting fair trade sales significantly. The [[Fairtrade labelling|labeling initiative]] also allowed customers and distributors alike to track the origin of the goods to confirm that the products were really benefiting the producers at the end of the supply chain.

The concept caught on: in ensuing years, similar non-profit Fairtrade labelling organizations were set up in other European countries and North America. In 1997, a process of convergence among "LIs" ("Labeling Initiatives") led to the creation of Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, an umbrella organization whose mission is to set fair trade standards, support, inspect, and certify disadvantaged producers, and harmonize the fair trade message across the movement.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.fairtrade.net/tasks.html | title = Main Tasks | work = Fair trade | access-date = 27 January 2009 | year = 2006 | publisher = FLO International | archive-date = 17 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090217225829/http://www.fairtrade.net/tasks.html | url-status = dead }}</ref>

In 2002, FLO launched an International Fairtrade Certification Mark. The goals were to improve the visibility of the Mark on supermarket shelves, facilitate cross border trade, and simplify procedures for both producers and importers. The certification mark is used in more than 50 countries and on dozens of different products, based on FLO's certification for coffee, tea, rice, bananas, mangoes, cocoa, cotton, sugar, honey, fruit juices, nuts, fresh fruit, quinoa, herbs and spices, wine, [[Football (ball)|footballs]], etc.

With ethical labeling, consumers can take moral responsibility for their economic decisions and actions. This supports the notion of fair trade practices as "moral economies".<ref name=":1" /> The presence of labeling gives consumers the feeling of "doing the right thing" with a simple purchase.

Labeling practices place the burden of getting certification on the producers in the Global South, furthering inequality between the Global North and the Global South. The process of securing certification is burdensome and expensive. Northern consumers are able to make a simple choice while being spared these burdens and expenses.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Alternative production and consumption relations?: fair trade, the state, and cooperatives in the global South|journal = Journal of Contemporary African Studies|date = 2013-01-01|issn = 0258-9001|pages = 1–17|volume = 31|issue = 1|doi = 10.1080/02589001.2012.752958|first = Michelle|last = Williams|s2cid = 154318222}}</ref>

=== Large companies as buyers ===
Large transnational companies have started to use fair trade commodities in their products. In April 2000, [[Starbucks]] began offering fair trade coffee in all of their stores. In 2005, the company promised to purchase ten million pounds of fair trade coffee over the next 18 months. This would account for a quarter of the fair trade coffee purchases in the United States and 3% of Starbucks' total coffee purchases.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> The company maintains that increasing its fair trade purchases would require an unprofitable reconstruction of the supply chain.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Macdonald | first1 = Kate | year = 2007 | title = Globalising Justice within Coffee Supply Chains? Fair Trade, Starbucks and the Transformation of Supply Chain Governance | journal = Third World Quarterly | volume = 28 | issue = 4| pages = 793–812 | doi=10.1080/01436590701336663| s2cid = 154177027 }}</ref> Fair trade activists have made gains with other companies: [[Sara Lee Corporation]] in 2002 and [[Procter & Gamble]] (the maker of [[Folgers]]) in 2003 agreed to begin selling a small amount of fair trade coffee. [[Nestlé]], the world's biggest coffee trader, began selling a blend of fair trade coffee in 2005.<ref name="ReferenceC" /> In 2006, [[The Hershey Company]] acquired [[Dagoba Chocolate|Dagoba]], an organic and fair trade chocolate brand.

Much contention surrounds the issue of fair trade products becoming a part of large companies. Starbucks is still only 3% fair trade–enough to appease consumers, but not enough to make a real difference to small farmers, according to some activists. The ethics of buying fair trade from a company that is not committed to the cause are questionable; these products are only making a small dent in a big company even though these companies' products account for a significant portion of global fair trade.<ref name="ReferenceC" />

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Types of businesses engaged in fair trade (DeCarlo, 2007)<ref name="ReferenceB" />
|-
! Business type !! Engagement with fair trade products
|-
| || '''Highest'''
|-
| Fair trade organizations || Equal Exchange
|-
| || Global Crafts
|-
| || [[Ten Thousand Villages]]
|-
| Values-driven organizations || The Body Shop
|-
| || Green Mountain Coffee
|-
| Pro-active socially responsible businesses || Starbucks
|-
| || Whole Foods
The Ethical Olive
|-
| Defensive socially responsible businesses || Procter & Gamble
|-
| || '''Lowest'''
|}