An overview on the unique challenges and opportunities facing fair trade coffee in rural Canada with a qualitative focus. This presentation was made for EDRD*6000 at the University of Guelph.

1. Fair Trade Coffee in
Rural Canada:
Exploring Benefits by
Overcoming Barriers
Stuart Filson
EDRD*6000
March 6, 2018

2. Outline
▪ Basics
▪ History
▪ Canadian considerations
▪ Challenges
▪ Opportunities
▪ Qualitative analysis
▪ Questions
▪ References
Picture from https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/msu-lands-18m-usaid-award-to-boost-african-great-lakes-coffee-industry/

3. Basics
What is fair trade? How is it different from organic?
▪ Definitions of fair trade and organic vary between people and organizations, but fair trade typically
aims for socio-economic equity, while organic regards agricultural practices (Tucker, 2017)
▪ Fair trade certification tries to address socio-economic disparities by seeking more equalized pay
distribution and labour standards, often through co-operative mechanisms (Ledjou, 2016)
▪ Coffee may be either fair trade, organic, both or neither (Tucker, 2017)
▪ Distinct from fair trade, direct trade does away with middlemen and certifiers to strive for comparable
principles (Stenzel, 2013)
B

4. Brief History of
Canadian Fair Trade
18th century: Among the earliest
records of long-distance consumer
solidarity efforts (van Dam, 2015)
1950s: Localized practices of fair
trade emerge (van Dam, 2015)
1960s: Creation of early fair trade
organizations (Gillani, 2014)
Late 1980s: Fair trade certification
mechanisms enter mainstream
marketplaces (van Dam, 2015)
1997: Transfair Canada, a Fairtrade
Labelling Organizations International
(FLO) affiliate, is founded (Tucker, 2017)
2009: Fair Trade Federation reaches
270 member organizations in
Canada and USA (Tucker, 2017)

5. Canadian
Considerations
▪ Although fair trade encompasses many product
categories, hot beverages constitute most of
Canada’s fair trade purchases (DiMarcello, Hooker,
& Marconi, 2014; Kipusi, 2010)
▪ Fair trade is not immune from problems, with
organizations like Transfair, being criticized for
compromising policy to multinational Starbucks, and
not properly distributing premium overhead to
farmers (Enelow, 2012; Reed et al., 2010)
▪ Canada and the USA both lag heavily behind the
European Union in fair trade consumption
(DiMarcello, Hooker, & Marconi, 2014)
Picture from https://thetraveleditorblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/just-across-the-border-to-quebec/

6. Picture from https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/g4004/best-small-towns-canada/
Challenges for
Rural Canada
Perspective: Much like other forms of trade, the turbulent
protectionism from the United States’ leadership is also
disrupting Canadian fair trade. As an alternative model of
exchange expanding upon fair trade, Montreal based café, the
Anticafé LocaL, charges customers, not for coffee, but for time
(Archimandriti, 2018).
Different economies of
scale, such as fewer
residents, often lead to
fair trade’s premium cost
being more daunting
(Stahlbrand, 2017)
Fewer co-operative
efforts in rural Canada
make fair trade programs
less attainable (Hough,
Wilson, & Corcoran,
2010)

7. Opportunities
▪ Fair trade has generally
redistributed wealth and
autonomy to lower income
earners (Tucker, 2017)
▪ Canadian organizations have
emerged to help coffeehouses
transition to fair trade and
direct trade (Stenzel, 2013)
▪ Fair trade has led politicians in
developed nations to discuss
and promote more equitable
trade systems (Gillani, 2014)
▪ Canadian fair trade and its
partners have risen steadily,
making rural certification more
attainable (Reed et al., 2010)
Picture from http://www.safia-minney.com/blog/fair-trade-added-to-encyclopedia-britannica/

8. Qualitative
Research
& Evaluation
▪ Qualitative research and evaluation holds a crucial
role for experientially engaging rural co-operatives
(Glaser & Barluzzi, 2016)
▪ Although qualitative evaluation faces difficulties
because of the limited research on the unique
issues facing rural Canadian communities and fair
trade coffee, qualitative research has nevertheless
been emerging (Glaser & Barluzzi, 2016)
▪ Rural specific Canadian analysis is more
challenging because of the fewer support
mechanisms for qualitative research on fair trade
coffee (Hough, Wilson, & Corcoran, 2010)
Perspective: Rural fair trade coffee
entrepreneur, Elana Rosenfeld, started
Kicking Horse Coffee in the small town of
Invermere, British Columbia. Despite
success, Elana Rosenfeld struggled against
rural realities to operate a business , such
as packaging supplies (Boffard, 2015).

9. Questions ▪ With the emergence of direct trade and other
alternative approaches to address economic
inequalities, how should the fair trade certification
process adapt to changing concerns?
▪ How could governments assist in ensuring more
ethically sourced products?
▪ Why have fair trade and other alternative
approaches become especially popular within the
past few decades?
▪ How could new qualitative research and evaluation
better address issues surrounding fair trade coffee
in rural Canada?

10. References Archimandriti, A. (2018, Feb. 7). From free to fair. The McGill International Review. Retrieved from https://www.mironline.ca/from-free-to-fair/
Boffard, R. (2015, Nov. 30). The woman who built a coffee empire from a small town. BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/business-
34798155
DiMarcello, N., Hooker, N., & Marconi, N. G. (2014). Comparing the United States and Canadian fair trade markets to the rest of the
world. Choices, 29(3).
Enelow, N. (2012). Fair trade, agrarian cooperatives, and rural livelihoods in Peru (Doctoral dissertation, University of Massachusetts Amherst).
Gillani, A. (2014). Reconciling demands of conscience: a grounded theory of consumer behaviour in the Fairtrade context (Doctoral dissertation, Cardiff
University).
Glaser, D., & Barluzzi, L. (2016). International cooperation in small cities and towns: New directions and innovative local practices in British Columbia;
final technical report (September 8, 2014-August 31, 2016). British Columbia Council for International Cooperation.
Hough, P., Wilson, D., & Corcoran, H. (2010). The worker co-op sector in Canada. Canadian Worker Co-operative Federation. Retrieved from
https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http://socialeconomyhub.ca/sites/socialeconomyhub.ca/files/Canadian%20SSHRC%2
0Paper%2016-6-2010%20fnl_0.doc
Kipusi, S. S. (2010). Fair trade promotion: The representation of third world women in fair trade advocacy (Master’s major research paper, McMaster
University).
Ledjou, H. R. R. M. (2016). International development: The contribution of the internet in broadening the scope of solidarity-based
consumption. Global Media Journal, 9(1), 73.
Reed, D., Thomson, B., Hussey, I., & LeMay, J. F. (2010). Developing a normatively grounded research agenda for fair trade: Examining the case of
Canada. Journal of business ethics, 92(2), 151-179.
Stahlbrand, L. (2017). Going the distance so our food doesn't have to: Case studies of creative public procurement at Canadian and UK universities
(Doctoral dissertation, Laurier University).
Stenzel, P. L. (2013). Connecting the dots: Synergies among grassroots tools for authentic sustainable development. Fordham Envtl. L. Rev., 25, 393.
Tucker, C. M. (2017). Coffee culture: Local experiences,global connections. Taylor & Francis.
van Dam, P. (2015). The limits of a success story: Fair trade and the history of postcolonial globalization. Comparativ, 25(1), 62-77.
Pictures (chronological)
https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/msu-lands-18m-usaid-award-to-boost-african-great-lakes-coffee-industry/
https://thetraveleditorblog.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/just-across-the-border-to-quebec/
https://www.countryliving.com/life/travel/g4004/best-small-towns-canada/
http://www.safia-minney.com/blog/fair-trade-added-to-encyclopedia-britannica/