Is Fair Trade beneficial?

I remembered a conversation I had with one of the farmer from Guatamala last year. I remembered our discussions on how fair trade is giving the local community a chance to help themselves and also create a foundation for self sustainability. I remember his passion when he mentioned how some innocent farmers were in harm's way when they try to help themselves. To some farmers out there, they do pay a price to fight for their rights. Some sacrifice their lives to achieve the right to farm, right to have a fair and just existent side by side us.

8 months later, I opened my own fair trade cafe. I sell mainly fair trade coffees and I am passionate about social justices and how I through my cafe can contribute to a fairer way of trading and business operation.
Since the fair trade movement and the push by masses, coffee prices has risen and this in return allow farmers to work in their land and not travel over to North America and work in factory or grow narcotics on their farms.

Fair trade is a movement, its a conscious decision on how we consume, where we consume and consciously thinking of how our actions affected others locally and globally. The world is no longer as separated as we think it to be.

Fair trade started as a very noble effort to help support farmers be self sustainable. Now, fair trade has slowly gone mainstream. Many coffee shops have since opened and sell fair trade coffees, teas, sugars and cocao. And in return, it has gotten fair trade a bad rep. Saying it no longer is a social justice effort but became commerical. Even Walmart sells fair trade coffees now. Is it bad?

I can go on a separate discussion on this but we have to look at the positive side. As long as the farmers are promised a fair price for their coffees, they should be allowed to trade with anyone they desire. - its call progressive. As long as everything is traded fairly to the farmers; if they have already learned to understand market prices and already learned how to defend for themselves and learned the skills of trading - then no one can take advantage of them. And they can go on and become successful and run a successful co-op. Isn't this what we are all aiming for?

We use the free market ground to sell fair trade products, hoping to make fair trade equal to that of any merchandise on the market. Fair trade products should be competitive, should be of quality but most importantly, we hope the mass market has learned to raise the bar of what is fair, what is just and what it is to treat others and the earth with respect. Then fair trade has done its job!