Food prices to rise by up to 40% over next decade, UN report warns
Growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production will send prices soaring, according to the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Katie Allen
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 June 2010 13.02 BST
Food prices are set to rise as much as 40% over the coming decade amid growing demand from emerging markets and for biofuel production, according to a United Nations report today which warns of rising hunger and food insecurity.
Farm commodity prices have fallen from their record peaks of two years ago but are set to pick up again and are unlikely to drop back to their average levels of the past decade, according to the annual joint report from Paris-based thinktank the OECD and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
The forecasts are for wheat and coarse grain prices over the next 10 years to be between 15% and 40% higher in real terms, once adjusted for inflation, than their average levels during the 1997-2006 period, the decade before the price spike of 2007-08. Real prices for vegetable oils are expected to be more than 40% higher and dairy prices are projected to be between 16-45% higher. But rises in livestock prices are expected to be less marked, although world demand for meat is climbing faster than for other farm commodities on the back of rising wealth for some sections of the population in emerging economies.
Although the report sees production increasing to meet demand, it warns that recent price spikes and the economic crisis have contributed to a rise in hunger and food insecurity. About 1 billion people are now estimated to be undernourished, it said.
Fairtrade campaigners said the predictions of sharply rising prices provided a “stark warning” to international policymakers.
“Investment to encourage the 1 billion people whose livelihoods rely on smallholder agriculture is vital. Not only will this increase yields but will go a long way to increase prosperity in poverty stricken regions,” said Barbara Crowther, director of communications at the Fairtrade Foundation.
“At the same time, the promise of increased agriculture commodity prices could spark a new surge in land grabbing by sovereign wealth funds and other powerful investors which risks marginalising further rural communities who must be included in solutions to secure and maintain food supplies.”
The report says that agricultural production and productivity must be stepped up and it argues for a well-functioning trading system to ensure fair competition and that surplus food is getting to where it is needed.
It also painted a growing role for developing countries in both boosting demand and production. Brazil is by far the fastest growing agricultural producer, with output expected to rise by more than 40% in the next decade and production growth is also expected to be well above 20% in China, India, Russia and Ukraine.
“The role of developing countries in international markets is growing quickly, and as their impact grows, their policies also have an increasing bearing on conditions in global markets,” said FAO director-general Jacques Diouf.
“This makes their role and contribution to global policy issues critical. Policy discussions must be global in scope and we need to improve the framework for such exchange of views.”
Another factor driving up food prices is the controversial biofuels industry. The report predicts that continued expansion of biofuel output – often to meet government targets – will create additional demand for wheat, coarse grains, vegetable oils and sugar.
Somalis protest over high food prices during the spike of 2008. Photograph: Abdurashid Abikar/Getty Images
Editor’s Note: The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina is in a desperate fight against an impoverishing agricultural system. Monoculture production, especially of soy has had a profound effect on farmers. Land consolidation has forced thousands of farmers off the land. Violence against campesinos is happening all too often. Mechanized production has resulted in high levels of unemployment. And the predominance of soy is causing a shift of production away from traditional products that feed people. Via Campesina proposes an alternative to this damaging form of industrial agriculture, rooted in food sovereignty.
Written by Marie Trigona
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Worldwide, industrial mono-culture farming has displaced traditional food production and farmers, wreaking havoc on food prices and food sovereignty. This is particularly true for the global south, where land has been concentrated for crops destined for biodiesel and animal feed. In response, peasants and small farmers organized actions in more than 53 countries on October 15 for International Food Day as an initiative of Via Campesina, one of the largest independent social movement organizations, representing nearly 150 million people globally.
The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina joined the protests taking place on around the world by organizing a march in Buenos Aires for International Food Day. Argentina has often been described as South America’s bread basket because it once produced grain and beef for much of the region. But with the transgenetic soy boom the nation has shifted to a mono culture production for export, displacing traditional food production and farmers.
Hundreds of campesinos marked the day with protests against this agricultural model outside of Argentina’s Department of Agriculture. “For the government, the countryside [is made up of] the landholding organizations and the agro-businesses, we practically don’t exist,” says Javier from the campesino movement in Cordoba, an organization that includes more than 1,500 families who have depended on traditional agriculture for generations. “We are also part of the countryside. We are the ones who live on the land and protect the land. We want to continue to live on our land, for future generations.”
Evicted Farmers
According to Argentina’s 2008 agricultural census, more than 60,000 farms shut down between 2002 and 2008, while the average size of farms increased from 421 to 538 hectares. The shift to soy has replaced cultivation of many grains and vegetables and even the country’s beef production. Researcher at the nation’s social research institute CONICET, Tamara Peremulter outlines the affects of monoculture soy on food production. “Soy historically hasn’t been grown in Argentina. Soy was brought in during the 1960’s during the Green Revolution. Transgenetic soy has been brought to lands where before cultivation wouldn’t have been possible. The low production cost of soy helped this process. Soy has replaced other crops, invading areas that were historically for cattle grazing and dairy production. Soy has also invaded indigenous and traditional farming communities. This model also implies deforestation and loss of biodiversity”
Land access and disputes over land titles has become one of the central issues for traditional farmers being replaced by machinery and high tech mono-culture farms. The National Indigenous Campesino Movement of Argentina (MNCI) reports that 82 percent of farmers live off of 13 percent of the nation’s land used for agriculture, while 4 percent of large land holders or “growing pools” financial investors in the agro industry own more than 65 percent. The disparities in land titles have lead to violent evictions.
On October 12, 2009 a day on which indigenous communities commemorate the genocide of their people following Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1492, an indigenous farmer, Javier Chacoba was murdered during a protest against the forced eviction of indigenous people off of lands. The 68-old farmer died of a gun shot wound to the abdomen by Dario Amín, a landowner. Members of the Chuschagasta community had been camping along a provincial highway bordering the lands to demand land recognition for the Chuschagasta when Amín and two ex-police officers showed up at the protest. “On the day commemorating 519 years of genocide in Latin America, we suffered the loss of our brother (Javeri Chacobar) for simply standing up for his rights, defending his dignity and land that belongs to him,” said Margarita Mamaní, member of the Chuschagasta community.
“They have been evicting farmers and members of the indigenous community from lands. People have been killed in the evictions,” says Ricardo Ortiz is an indigenous representative from The Campesino Movement of Santiago del Estero (MOCASE). More than 9,000 families make up MOCASE, a grassroots movement of traditional farmers and indigenous groups. “Now they killed a farmer in Tucuman, a brother. He was in a march to demand their rights and the man who bought the lands took out a gun and shot the man and injured four more. The government has been blind, deaf and mute; this is why we are worried.”
Police Repression
In 2008 alone more than 35 campesinos were arrested and arrest warrants issued for 95 more, in Mendoza, Formosa and Santiago del Estero, in communities rejecting the agro-industrial model. Santiago del Estero is a province once rich in forest land and untouched by soy. This changed as the boom in soy prices has made these remote areas now profitable for soy growers.
This is a “witch hunt,” as the MNCI has described the situation for campesinos resisting land evictions, and defending traditional cultures. Local police enforce eviction orders and meet any resistance with police force, clubs and many times bullets. “Campesinos resisting are suffering a violent political persecution. We demand that detained farmers are released, that officials, judges and police that violate human rights be investigated and that evictions are stopped,” declared the MNCI.
Agro Industry Creates Joblessness
The shift to mono-culture crops and land concentration has stretched into cultivations traditionally employing small farmers such as vineyards. Argentina’s wine industry has boomed in recent years, with the total value of Argentine wine in the US increasing from 75 million to 146 million dollars between 2006 and 2008. Mendoza is Argentina’s largest wine producing region, with a micro climate perfect for the Malbec grape. Access to water is a major issue for rural and indigenous communities there.
Marcelo Quieroga from the Union of Rural Workers (UST) says that much of the vineyards in Mendoza have been monopolized by French and Swiss investors, who buy land and mechanize wine production. “They are using machinery to replace workers. By producing high quality wines for export the wineries have essentially monopolized the production. Who suffers is the rural worker who can’t find work, and ends up living in a shanty town due to rural unemployment.”
Rural displacement results in poverty and joblessness; the poorest provinces in Argentina have ironically hosted a boom in soy industry, with soy fields replacing forests and even cattle grazing land. The MNCI has reported that the soy model creates only one job post for every 500 hectares cultivated. Meanwhile, traditional agriculture provides 35 job posts for every 100 hectares cultivated, while also guaranteeing food diversity, production or local markets and sustainable use of resources such as land and water.
Food Sovereignty
Industrialization and the globalization of Argentina’s food system has led to spikes in food prices, and increasing rural poverty. This has become a global trend. “A billion people are without food because industrial monocultures robbed them of their livelihoods in agriculture and their food entitlements,” writes Vandana Shiva in the Nation Magazine.
Via Campesina does have an alternative to the agro industry, pushing for governments to promote local, traditional farming which provides communities with real food. “It’s time for all civil society to recognize the gravity of this situation, global capital should not control our food, nor make decisions behind closed doors. The future of our food, the protection of our resources and especially our seeds, are the right of the people,” said Dena Hoff, coordinator of Via Campesina North America.
Food sovereignty as defined by Via Campesina is the peoples’ right to define their agricultural and food policy, and the right of farmers and peasants to produce food. Worldwide communities are seeking an alternative to a model controlled by Cargill, Monsanto, General Foods, Nestle and Kraft foods. Starved by industrialization and concentration, citizens are now hungry for traditional production methods and diversity in the food system.
***
Marie Trigona is a writer, radio producer and filmmaker based in Argentina. She can be reached at mtrigona@msn.com
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WHO WE ARE: Foodforethought is an information service that encourages dialogue and exploration of innovative trends in the global food system. The service is managed by James Kuhns of MetroAg Alliance for Urban Agriculture in collaboration with Amber McNair of the University of Toronto in association with the Centre for Urban Health Initiatives (CUHI), and Wayne Roberts of the Toronto Food Policy Council. To subscribe, please contact editor@foodforethought.net.
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On Thursday and Friday groups from our partner farm Entrerios traveled to the hard-hit regions of Chanco and Mocha Island to deliver much-needed relief supplies. Below Jorge Bawlitza, managing director of our partner farm Entrerios, continues his account of the earthquake’s aftermath and describes the relief efforts in Chanco, and Roland Heis gives an account of the mission to Mocha Island.
Jorge Bawlitza
Many things have happened the last days that I want to share with you. Our farm and packaging facilities is working 100% with more than 250 people, coming together with their children and family. We have activities organized for the children. And we prepare food for all the families. At the same moment, a technical team has been visiting the houses of our workers. Our farm Agro Entre Rios have ordened 3 emergency houses to give a roof for our workers that have lost it and are repairing the damages of the houses. Our farm Bluestar is repairing the damages of their houses and have already started the construction of 3 emergency houses for their workers. In our farm in Cauquenes, we are evaluating the damages of our workers, and food support has already begun.
As we knew that some towns very near from Linares have been destroyed completely and that only very few help has arrived there, we organized an expedition to bring them food. Thanks to the financial support of one of our client, Southern Specialties, Pompano Beach, we have bought 1000kg of food to bring to one of this little town, Chanco. Yesterday, we could bring oil, pasta, sugar, apples and tomatoes to more than 90 families (from 4 to 20 people each family.
Thanks to 2 local social workers from the municipality of Chanco, we could have a real impact in which we are sure that the food arrives directly at the heart of these families. Without their help, it would have been difficult for us to give equitibly and to the ones that more requires it. Marcia Cristoso Perez, one of the social workers, fortunately did not have too much destruction in her house and is part of the 10% of the houses that didn´t collapsed, but was still without electricity and water. Elizabeth Munoz Munoz, the other social worker was not so lucky, she lost for completely her house and was now living together with 3 other families in a bus that someone provides them.
Chanco is a typical and traditional town from the time of Spanish conquest, with a history of more than 450 years. The people we met yesterday are from middle low social class, with a face full of dignity, traditional families from the deep old Chile. In this town and region, there is no bank, nor cash machine working, so nobody has any money. There is no minimarkets or supermarkets, so the few ones that have money cannot use it. There is no fuel and most of the cars are destroyed. So our small help that we can do is giving a breath for a few days until governmental support arrives and people reorganizes themselves. Gave 2 kg of sugar, 2 kg of pasta, 1 lt of oil, tomatoes and apples with love and care, looking in their eyes can help the spirit to return. The same spirit that motivates our friends from Southern Specialties from Pompano Beach, Florida. And with all our heart and in the name of all the people we met yesterday, we thanks them so much. I know that all Southern Specialties team will be very happy to know they could help us to bring food and love to 90 families. I´m sure that maybe they didn´t imagine the rapidity and the efficacy in generating happiness with their resources.
I know that many of you have done donation to international help for Chile and all our community thanks you very much for it. Also I want to tell you that we share all what we live with our workers, and they support us with their heart, job and extra-time that will be concretised in help to our community.
Jorge Bawlitza, EntreriosFarms
Saturday, March 6th
Here at our farm in the south of Chile (Villarrica area) the situation is improving. When we see all the destruction and pain in Central area, we feel fortunate. Only one of our workers has serious damage at his home and we are already rebuilding it…so we are putting all our efforts to bring help to more remote areas where government hasn’t reached yet.
Yesterday we organized 3 small Cessnas (airplanes) and brought food and other essentials to a small island called” Isla Mocha” only 10 miles away from the epicenter. A huge tsunami wave took away more than half of the small village. But these were fishermen so they knew what to do and “only” two lives where lost! In the name of this small community (400 inhabitants) thanks to all of you for your great support!
Jorge Bawlitza, managing director of EntrerÃos Farmsa partnership of four family growers that produce our fair trade blueberriesgives his moving account of the aftermath of Saturday´s earthquake. Jorge lives in Linares, only 70km from the quake’s epicentre.
Saturday, 27 February
At about 3.30am we felt it the fifth-biggest catastrophe in recorded history. Millions of people in Chile’s Central Valley woke up and thought only of the most important things to them their children, parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters. For two minutes, millions of people were transformed into one heart. A few minutes after the big tremor came the silence, and new thoughts entered our minds: our extended family, the neighbors, friends. We only had a few moments to cry, and then it was time to assess the house.
Without electricity and without water, we separate what is disorder from what is structural damage. Fortunately, my house is still standing. My wife, a doctor, finds a first-aid kit, and is ready to take necessary action. We go to see our workers and their families who live on the farm; about 30 people in total. Everybody is alive and without injury. The women stay together to take care of the kids. The men, we enter the farmhouses and the cooling and packing facilities to evaluate the damage. Everything is OK a tribute to my father, an engineer, who built all the houses on the farm, the coldstore and the packhouse.
There is no water, no electricity, no telephone and no radio. It is impossible to call anyone, and then we realise that we are alone. Everybody is alone. There is silence in the air. We know something big has happened, but how big? And where? I take the hand of my wife and my daughter and I thank God. I ask myself what mission he has for me and why in this disaster I have been so lucky. It´s time to rest and feel the warm breath of my daughter. We are alive. The epicentre was about 70km south of Linares, where I live.
Later, the sun shines. In the car, we listen to Argentinean radio. They talk about the earthquake and how they could feel it in Buenos Aires and Patagonia. And slowly, there is some information from Chile. The epicentre is near Concepción. Our account manager lives there and we still don´t know anything about him and his family. I go to visit the nearest family. At about 11am, I´m able to communicate for a few seconds with my brothers all of them are OK and they tell me that my parents and other people I know are OK too. I lose the connection.
We start to organise communication by word of mouth. Unfortunately, we hear about an aunt and her employee who died under the rubble. We see the city destroyed, many old houses made of adobe, the churches, the roads, the bridges all destroyed or in a bad way. We have mineral water in the office, so we share it with our neighbours, friends and family because we know we won´t have water or electricity for some days. A small local radio at the church is able to transmit using an electric generator. At this moment, we realise that communication is down across the entire country.
The voices on the radio try to transmit calm to the public. We thank them for their efforts. The day passes rapidly. Without electricity, the day ends when the sun goes down. As I´m writing, a new tremor reminds me that these movements have been ongoing since the earthquake. Every tremor reminds me of what is important. My daughter is playing in the farm dining room together with all our workers’ kids.
Sunday, 28 February
Sunday is almost like any other Sunday, although by now we´ve had two near sleepless nights and we continue without communication, without water and without electricity. We wait nervously and try not to waste water, food or fuel. At midday, we start to hear on the radio about the impact in small villages near to Linares as well as Linares itself. According to the information, there are still a lot of people in need and many people that can´t reach their families in other parts of the region or other regions in Chile. We start to become more worried about what has happened to our workers.
In the afternoon, we begin to hear on the radio that the news in the rest of the region is also bad, but there are no details. I am sure the people living outside of Chile have more information about what is happening than we do. We go to the local radio station to transmit a message to our workers and let them know that our operations are OK. We also want to find out about them, their families and their houses.
Monday, 1 March
About 60 people turn up to work. We get a clearer understanding of what they need: some go back to their houses because they have to take care of their kids; then we realise just how in need they are, especially because of the lack of food; most of our workers who have damaged houses have problems with their roofs. We realise that our other workers must have even greater problems because they couldn´t come to work.
Wow, the electricity arrives, together with the water. Good news! But still no television or telephone yet. We make a new announcement on the local radio to thank the people that could come to work and express our concern about those people who couldn´t come because we imagine they are in a worse condition. We tell our workers that the bus to pick them up will pass by the same places as usual and we invite them to bring their kids to work if they have no safe places to leave them.
At the same time, we start to look for food, plastic and roofing materials to give to the people. We create a volunteer technical team to analyse the needs for each case and visit all the houses. Many people start to confirm that they will come to work with their kids.
During the night, the telephone and television come back on. I speak with my father. The images on television are striking. There´s a lot of destruction. We hear about the crime people taking all they can find at the supermarkets. Fortunately, we haven´t seen anything like this in Linares. We just see support, concern and solidarity honest working people, even those who´ve lost their homes. We give thanks for our health, work and look to the future.
Tuesday, 2 March
Around 150 workers arrive with their kids and other relatives. During the day, more people turn up with their families and bring food for everyone. We continue to provide food while we have it, but shortages are rapidly increasing. We´re already supporting about 200 workers. We continue with our improvised social survey, asking workers about their situation.
Some answer in great detail about their fears and with sad faces remember the broken plates, glasses, windows and televisions. Others say they and their families are well and express a strange sense of tranquillity and serenity. How can such a disaster bring out the best in people? These people, still so calm and serene after losing everything, carry on working like always they are happy to be working. We realise that even though they told us: Yes, we are all well, thank God!, their houses have been badly damaged and another family has had to give them help and a roof over their heads.
I think, how can I these people’s boss, with a stable house, food and a daughter sleeping warm learn from the wisdom and integrity of these people who have lost their homes? How can I work with these eyes of wisdom? What disaster must I experience to earn the wisdom that will allow me to appreciate what´s important in each moment? I thank God that God exists.
Another tremor. I lose my concentration. I want to be with my daughter. We still don´t know anything about our farm in Cauquenes, which is nearer to the epicentre. We still don´t know about our account manager and his family who live in Concepción.
Wednesday, 3 March
We visit the farm in Cauquenes. Thank God, all the workers on the farm are alive. There is, of course, a lot of material damage to the houses and so on, but the biggest problem is that there is still no electricity or water and it is impossible to irrigate the plants. Fortunately, the blueberry season there has ended, but there are 80ha of wine vineyards which it is impossible to water.
Eventually, we contact our account manager in Concepción by phone. Both he and his family are OK, which is a great relief to us all. Finally, the army takes the control of whole affected area in Chile. My account manager tells me he can finally sleep without fear. I think about how the government made a very late decision to send the army, even though the army was ready to go on the first day and the people in the affected regions were asking for their help in order to provide security. I´m very proud of our army.
There are millions of brave people in our small, long and narrow country who will continue to do their best. There is only one answer hard work. My responsibility and our responsibility at EntrerÃos Farms is to reconstruct our country, our farm and its production. Despite all the difficulties, the first step is to go on as normal; to continue to supply our customers across the world with best quality organic fruit; and to continue to provide our employees with a good working environment. By that I mean a good house and family environment. With that in mind, our new commitment to the Entrerios family is to reconstruct the homes lost in this tragedy.
For this, we ask you, as a part of the whole supply chain, to do the best you can for your clients in order to make the most profit. With this profit, we can reconstruct the homes of our employees as quickly as possible. If you are willing and able to help us in another way, we would be very grateful.
You may have heard about the devastating earthquake that hit Chile on Saturday. It is a terrible human tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with all the people of Chile as they try to piece back together their lives, communities, and businesses. The massive 8.8 earthquake has hit growing areas from region V to IX , supply complications are likely to be severe- major highways and bridges have been destroyed, electricity outages have damaged cold-storage capacity, and growers are struggling to maintain operations in the context of massive disruptions to basic services, including running water. Now, more than ever, it is important to know that Fair Trade makes a difference. So far this season with our fair trade blueberries from Chile, consumers have generated over $40,000 in social premiums. These premiums will be more important than ever in order to address the urgent needs of the people in all the affected communities. Premium funds can help people survive from the collapsed economy, to rebuild houses, schools, and community centers, and generate additional resources so that people can invest in what they need most. Every package of interrupcion* Fair Trade Blueberries generates social premiums, and every package makes a positive difference. We will have signs available this week designed for retail shelves where our partners can tell the story of Fair Trade as it directly relates to the recent earthquake. We are here to support any communication efforts that are of interest- our goal is to generate as much money in Fair Trade premiums as possible to provide aid to the people of Chile.We ask you to consider what you can do to increase the effectiveness of our efforts, and we welcome the chance to work and collaborate with you in partnership.
Fair for Life Social & Fair Trade Certification includes high transparency, social responsibility audits, requirements for good environmental performance, and the ability to combine Fair Trade certification with other programs, such as organic certification, for all major world markets.
Discovery Islands Organics is an organic and Fair Trade importer and distributor for fresh produce. They carry several product lines, such as bananas from Peru, and avocados and mangos from Mexico, that are certified, and now also blueberries, apples and pears that are Fair for Life Fair Trade Certified. Discovery Islands Organics´ ethnical sourcing policy is to buy local and direct, first and foremost, and they also work primarily with grower cooperatives for the majority of their product sourcing. They help to educate their growers on fair trade, and have supported the implementation of fair trade certified systems with their growers.
: We are happy to see a pioneer in the Northwestern and Canadian organic movements embrace fair trade among its sourcing practices and company policy,! said Wolfgang Kathe, department manager for social and fairtrade at IMO.: The combination of organic and fair trade, both domestically and internationally are important in promoting sustainability through trade.!
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Craigie on Main here is one of those socially conscious restaurants where the food is as moral as it is tasty. The chicken had roamed freely. The vegetables had sprouted locally. I could only assume that the tuna, before being sashimied, enjoyed a massage and that the fennel had signed consent forms to be crushed into ice cream.
When the steak arrived, the chef himself appeared to announce that the cow had been well tended.
: You mean, before they killed him?! I thought to myself.
It has many names:: buycotting,! ethical consumerism, moral economics, latte activism, critical consumption. Whatever you call it, buying is getting ever more political across the affluent world.
A car is no longer just a car, nor a cup of coffee just a cup of coffee. In the age of hybrids and fair trade, the mall is a forum to express convictions and hopes.
Today one can buy not just carbon offsets, organic fruit and recycled paper, but also a iPod whose purchase combats mother-to-child H.I.V. transmission in Africa; a sneaker from Timberland made of biodegradable wool and organically tanned leather;: green weapons! like reduced-lead bullets from BAE Systems, the British armaments maker; and fair-trade condoms, made with sustainable latex (marketing pitch:: for guilt-free lovers who want to feel good in every way!).
On the surface, all seems well. But, as the trend has gathered stream, a debate has begun over the political meaning of buycotting: is consumption an exciting new form of citizenship? Or is it a sign of how corroded citizenship has become that shopping is the closest many of us are willing to come to worrying about labor laws, trade agreements, agriculture policy about good old-fashioned politics?
Political consumption is not new; its history streaks through the civil-rights movement, the campaign against apartheid and other causes. What is new is that boycotting is surrendering to buycotting, the sending of positive, not just negative, signals; and that it is practiced increasingly by mainstream shoppers, not just die-hard activists.
Political consumption also perhaps supports a new-age behavioral theory: that human beings, long imagined by traditional economists to be rational, utilitarian creatures, in fact have more complex longings, and often are willing to sacrifice economically for an idea or feeling.
A study published this fall in the Political Science Quarterly found that 62 percent of Americans were willing to pay $5 extra for a $20 sweater produced more ethically, and three-quarters would spend 50 cents a pound more for fair-trade coffee.
Proponents of buycotting see these premiums as pure political expression: citizens´ parting with money to refine the world. Some even argue that cash-voting goes further than ballot-casting: we buy, and thereby incentivize producers, every day; but we vote far less often.
: We are convinced that how people buy can be more effective than how they vote,! said Francesco Galante, a director of Comitato Addiopizzo, a civic group in Palermo, Sicily, that has taken on the mafia using an analogue of fair-trade labeling. In 2004, some volunteers in Palermo decided to bypass politicians: they approached local businesses, many of which paid the mafia: pizzo,! or bribes, and asked them to certify that they paid pizzo no longer; in exchange, the Comitato brought them business from pizzo-averse Sicilians.
Today 400 businesses and 9,000 customers have joined, even though products from law-abiding companies often cost more.
But, like all apparently wonderful things, ethical consumption has begun to attract critics.
One set are free-enterprise champions who argue that politicizing consumption distorts prices and spurs overproduction while imposing arbitrary conditions on producers like insisting that developing-world farmers enroll their children in school that might sound good to Westerners but ignore complex local realities.
Insisting on the noblest production methods conflicts, these critics say, with the very function of markets: to bring the most goods to the most people as cheaply as possible.
Another group of critics doesn´t deny political consumption´s power. Rather, they bemoan that citizenship has come to this.
Citizenship, for them, is about voting, marching, writing about being involved. In the modern age, they say, we have begun to turn inward, bowl alone, shirk our public duties. And now comes this cheap (in the moral, if not economic, sense) way to participate just a little, assuage guilt just a little, involve ourselves just a little in AIDS and trade, feel just a little of activism´s thrill.
In an article last year in The Lancet, the British medical journal, the scholars Colleen O´Manique and Ronald Labonte strongly condemned RED, the marketing campaign for iPods and other products whose purchase helps to finance the battle against H.I.V./AIDS in Africa.
: Be wary of the 21st century´s new noblesse oblige that replaces the efficiency of tax-funded programs and transfers in improving health equity with a consumption-driven ‘charitainment´ model,! they wrote.
Market citizenship, as critics call it, lets the state off easy, they say. Public goods like health systems should be publicly provided, they say. If organic vegetables are better, then we should all eat them, instead of just the elite. And privatizing compassion may tempt the state to neglect problems; then, when a recession slows shopping, AIDS orphans languish waiting for you to buy sunglasses.
It is worth asking which problems demand politics and which the mall. Child labor in Vietnam and unscrupulous intermediaries in the coffee trade lent themselves to buycotting. What can the market do about Darfur or health care in the United States?
The question, at bottom, is this: have we, with our ethical cars and condoms and carrots, found a way to make markets humane? Or have we rather found a way to make politics bearable to us by turning it into shopping?
Anand Giridharadas writes the column: Currents,! on ideas, for The International Herald Tribune and nytimes.com.
A version of this article appeared in print on October 11, 2009 in Week in Review, NY Times
In the rich soils of Tucumán, interrupcion* fair trade blueberries soak in warm sun while surrounded by the high Andes mountains and sugarcane fields. Berries del Aconquija S. A. & Berries del NOA are farms founded by Francisco and Pablo, two entrepreneurs that made social responsibility and sustainability their guiding principles. Back in 2005, when they were writing their business plan they contacted interrupcion* to help them to measure and maximize their social and environmental impact. We worked with them to identify their communities and their needs. At that time, they built strong ties with the local organizations giving them support and guidance in understanding of the main issues facing the community. As soon as both companies were formed and the farms went into production, Pablo and Fran decided to certify their operations with Nature´s Choice Certification and Global Gap Certification. Both certifications guarantee safe labor conditions, monitor and regulate environmental impact and establish guidelines for good relationships with workers.
One of the first projects implemented was to invite local bank representatives to the farm to help permanent and temporary workers open their own savings accounts, so they can manage their money safely and take the first steps toward establishing credit. They then realized that some local labor contractors were using false registrations to avoid paying the national minimum wage to temporary workers. In response, Pablo and Fran rewrote their agreement with labor contractors to guarantee proof of payment for each temporary worker and installed a fingerprint scanner on the farm to ensure that those working on the farm are getting paid.
In 2007, interrupcion* started the fair trade certification program and Pablo and Fran were enthusiastic about getting involved and working towards fair trade certification.
The good relationships that they had cultivated with workers, their genuine concern for labor & social issues, and their well defined and documented processes helped them to obtain Fair Trade certification. As time went by, sales of Fair Trade berries made the social Premium fund grow and the workers showed a serious commitment to their communities, eager to create positive social change. In this rural and poor area. Workers decided to invest some premium money to solve urgent problems that their community was facing: a lack of shoes for the children of the community school, a necessary but expensive surgery for a very ill child, and the purchase of a specialized wheel chair for a severely handicapped child.In addition, as Pablo, Fran, and interrupcion* taught during assemblies, workers need to be organized to create an institution governed by themselves to address the most important issues that they face as a community. From this awareness came the decision to create an independent branch of Asociación Civil Interrupción* in Tucumán to provide goods and services for all the workers and their communities, goods and services often basic but difficult to obtain. Two main projects are being evaluated by the workers and Asociación Civil Interrupción:
- The creation of a community bakery to provide affordable and healthy bread
- The creation of a community factory to produce bricks and provide affordable materials for housing and small construction projects in the community.
Fran and Pablo are supporting these projects on their farms through a commitment to Fair Trade practices and are advising and assisting workers by providing the tools and freedom necessary to create make them a reality. Asociación Civil Interrupción is working closely with the workers committee to bring their projects to life and to continue to define and implement projects that can harness the benefits of Fair Trade in this community.
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As a nonpartisan coalition of Fair Trade organizations, vendors, and consumers, we cordially invite you to help extend the fair trade movement by declaring the White House a: Fair Trade Home.!
For more than sixty years, the Fair Trade movement has strived to create social and economic opportunities for the world´s poorest communities. As you know well, it is the poor who most acutely feel the effects of economic turbulence, climate change, and isolation. Fair Trade combats these issues.
As you may be aware, the movement toward ethical and sustainable consumption has grown to include faith-based centers, college campuses, businesses and individuals. The United States is also home to eleven: Fair Trade Towns/Cities! including Media, PA, Brattleboro, VT, Milwaukee, WI, Amherst, MA, Taos, NM, Northampton, MA, San Francisco, CA, Montclair, NJ, Ballston Spa, NY, Chico, CA, and Bluffton, OH.
Knowing that you and the President share these values, we invite you to extend the Fair Trade movement by making the White House a: Fair Trade Home! and increasing the number of items used by the White House which have been sourced according to Fair Trade principles. By requesting that your staff purchase items like food, body-care, and clothing made or sourced under Fair Trade Principles, your family´s example would show Americans how their purchasing habits can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for people to help themselves.
As a coalition of organizations, vendors, and consumers supporting Fair Trade, we represent 81 organizations, account for over $3.91 billion in annual sales and work with approximately 56,480 artisans, farmers, and producers around the world.
Jorge Bawlitza, managing director of EntrerÃos Farmsa partnership of four family growers that produce our fair trade blueberriesgives his moving account of the aftermath of Saturday´s earthquake. Jorge lives in Linares, only 70km from the quake’s epicentre.
