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Towards domestic fair trade? Farm labor, food localism, and the ‘family scale’ farm

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Abstract

Over the past several decades, consumers in the global North have increasingly looked to fair or alternative trading systems as a means to promote ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural production. While fair trade has historically been limited to international commodity networks, US-based agro-food activists have recently turned their attentions towards building a domestic movement, to bring fair trade principles and standards ‘home.’ Through an exploration of this growing movement, we consider the potential for third party certification and labeling to incorporate social justice into US-based agricultural production, with a particular focus on the implications for farm workers. We view current efforts to bring the principles of fair trade to the domestic arena as a reflection of several interrelated developments: a growing need on the part of small and mid-sized farmers to garner price premiums due to the erosion of the organic price premium; a recognition of the failure of organic certification to advance a holistic vision of sustainability; and the strategic embrace of voluntary regulatory mechanisms as an alternative to public regulation and collective bargaining. Initial research suggests that this has led to particular framings of the domestic fair trade concept, which may undermine the movement’s ability to address the social relations of agro-food production. Specifically, prioritization of the ‘family-scale’ farm and an undercurrent of food localism may obscure farm workers’ role in valorizing the US agricultural landscape.

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Notes

  1. For the purposes of this paper, we utilize the term ‘fair trade’ to refer to the broader movement of alternative trade organizations and their supporters. We capitalize the term when referencing particular certification initiatives and organizations, for example the Fair Trade Labelling Organization (FLO) and the Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA).

  2. The majority of participants are US-based, although one of the founders is a Canadian-based farmer cooperative and the group expresses its intention to encompass North American activities, despite maintaining the word domestic in its organizational title.

  3. The Domestic Fair Trade Association was officially convened in November 2007. Prior to this, the group operated as an informal Working Group, with somewhat fluid participation and an informal structure, although the core leadership has remained constant since the group’s inception.

  4. We further believe that it is both critical and productive that these discussions are taking place, given the tendency of many alternative agro-food movements to leave questions about farm labor off the table entirely.

  5. Over the past decade fair trade certified markets have witnessed double-digit growth in commodities such as coffee, tea, cocoa, and bananas (FLO Annual Reports 2003–2006).

  6. Such concerns echo those of sustainable agriculture practitioners and activists, who argue that organic standards as codified under the US Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program have undermined the original intent of the organic movement and allowed for the entry of agribusiness into the sector (See for example Howard 2001; Sligh and Christman 2003; for an extended critique of the USDA process see Vos 2000).

  7. As several DFTA participants suggest, organic certification is not the only path to environmental sustainability, and some of the farmers most committed to sound ecological practices (as opposed to simply avoiding synthetic inputs) don’t seek organic certification because they view the system to be compromised and/or because they have direct trade relationships (e.g. via farmers markets and CSAs), which allow them to bypass the third party certification process and maintain consumer confidence. On the other hand, fair traders point out that high entry barriers make organic certification difficult for the most marginalized producers and that fair trade relationships may provide resources to make organic certification attainable.

  8. Several of which are now members of the DFTA, including Red Tomato and Family Farm Defenders.

  9. For information about the Fair Trade Federation see http://www.fairtradefederation.org/. For information about the International Federation for Alternative Trade see http://www.ifat.org/.

  10. The full set of principles is available at www.equalexchange.com/dftfiles/dftprinciplesflyer.pdf.

  11. In addition to questions about certifying retailers, the processing sectors have been of particular concern. One DFT leader raises the example of a jam-maker wondering how to ensure that the cherry pitter with whom he contracts provides living wages and fair working conditions during the hours that his cherries are being run through the machines (Sligh 2008).

  12. It is also important to note that labor groups and trade unions have historically been weary of multi-stakeholder processes, particularly when there are power asymmetries among actors, as they can lead to compromises based on the lowest common denominator (for example, see http://circa.europa.eu/irc/empl/csr_eu_multi_stakeholder_forum/info/data/en/CSR%20Forum%20final%20report.pdf).

  13. Including several small fair trade coffee roasters, Red Tomato, Dr. Bronners, Peace Work Organic Farms, Family Farm Defenders, the Rural Advancement Foundation-USA, The Wedge and other retail coops based in the Twin Cities region, the Organic Consumers Association, Community to Community Development, El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agricolas (CATA) in addition to those mentioned above.

  14. Although Organic Valley farmers self-identify as “family farmers” many do rely on hired labor.

  15. The connection of the small farm to ecological sustainability is raised in the Family Farm and Sustainable Agriculture principles.

  16. Although Jaffee (2007) shows that certified producers often rely on hired labor, in particular to meet the increased demands associated with organic and Fair Trade compliance.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Robin Jane Roff and Daniel Niles for organizing the series on Shifting Agrifood Systems, which led to this special issue. Thanks also go to Rachel Brahinsky, John Lindenbaum, Seth Lunine, Geoff Mann, and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments along the way. Finally we thank all of our key informants, who shared their time and insights with us. All errors and omissions remain the responsibility of the authors.

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  1. Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, 507 McCone Hall #4740, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Sandy Brown

  2. Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, 207 Giannini Hall, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    Christy Getz

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Correspondence to Sandy Brown.

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Brown, S., Getz, C. Towards domestic fair trade? Farm labor, food localism, and the ‘family scale’ farm. GeoJournal 73, 11–22 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-008-9192-2

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