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As a microcosm of global capitalism’s flaws, the coffee industry has long provided a ready platform for exploration of Global North and South–based inequities that manifest in global commodity chains. Biased income distribution, labour exploitations and deficient industry governance have all played a role in undermining the livelihoods and conditions of Southern small coffee producers and their communities. Since the demise of the International Coffee Agreement in the late 1980s, the Fair Trade movement has carried the load of responsibility for civilising capitalist excesses in the coffee industry. The Fair Trade movement now boasts a variety of codified practices that are aimed at improving producer livelihoods through increased coffee prices and provision of complementary support services. Nevertheless — and despite being upheld as the beacon for principled industry practice — the brilliance of Fair Trade is fading in the eyes of some humanist advocates. Its promise has been argued to be diminished by its status as a limited niche market solution, bound in prohibitive bureaucracy. Further, Fair Trade monitoring has been criticised as top–down and disconnected from producers. Certainly, Southern producer conditions are under–represented in Fair Trade discourse. Yet, the voice of Southern producers provides a key to understanding gaps between Fair Trade in theory and in practice. Drawing on field research involving semi–structured interviews with East Timor coffee producers and Timor–based NGOs, this paper identifies four frontiers that challenge Fair Trade in East Timor’s coffee industry: premium expenditure, collective association, environmental management and gender issues. In concurrence with cautionary critics, the paper concludes that Fair Trade requires refocusing in order to realise its industry reforming potentials.

Stream: Economic Sustainability, Social Sustainability

Paper: Has Fair Trade Lost its Way?

Kerry Laughton completed a Bachelor of Public Policy and Management (with Honours) from the University of Melbourne in 2000, and a Bachelor of Arts from Monash University in 2002. Kerry commenced research for a PhD at Monash University in 2004. Her dissertation analyses the extent to which fair and alternative trade approaches offer a solution to the free market inequities faced by East Timor’s coffee producers. Previously, Kerry worked as an applied social researcher for the Australian government, focusing on regional development.