by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Fairtrade should start at home, the same as charity, and not in far away fields but it is obviously much easier to play with the Fairtrade label than to actually give British farmers a real deal.
Fairtrade is about as tainted as the Forestry Stewardship Council for forest products and that is the very reason why so many coffee companies and others have started their own programs. Not because it is easier but because they found that Fairtrade is not, actually, giving as much as claimed, and, like with so many charities, too much money is used in administration.
Personally I used to support both the Co-op and Fairtrade (as a label) but I am beginning to rethink my position, and I have done the same as regards to the FSC label, which is another rip off.
We have also just heard on July 26, 2012 that, so it would appear, the EU have started to blow its horn as to Supermarkets, such as Sainsbury's, paying above and beyond the “official” price for liquid milk. It would appear that the EU reckons that this is against the EU laws about cartel and competition. Sorry, what was that about “free trade”?
© 2012
