In the mainstream media, a lot of the economic news isn’t very good for the little guy producer. Mergers of extremely large corporations continue. The latest mega-deal is Kmart buying Sears to form the third largest U.S. retailer after the behemoths named Wal-Mart and Home Depot. You can be sure that these mammoth companies do not buy from small producers. That does not fit their economies of scale.

There are many other stories about things that benefit the little guy producer that don't make the news. The first GBPI newsletter is devoted to sharing the story of Fair Trade, a movement dedicated to supporting small producers all over the world. GBPI is committed to do its part in promoting Fair Trade through selling products made by small and/or worker owned producers that are in harmony with our mission.

The Lotzars, our husband and wife president and CFO team, just got back from a month in India. Part of their time was dedicated to meeting representatives of small producers in order to lay the groundwork for GBPI to import and sell their products. In addition to doing work for GBPI, Devorah volunteered two weeks at Mother Theresa’s Shi Shu Bhavan orphanage in Kolkata (Calcutta). She sang and danced with the children, fed them and shared her love with them. Devorah loved her time at Shi Shu Bhavan. Her experience was inspiring and gave her insight into further developing Spirit Jamboree, a music-based program for encouraging children's spirits to heal that will be marketed later in the year. Eliyahu interviewed children in orphanages and in the neighborhoods of Kolkata. His experience with the children is part of his preparation to lead a new GBPI-related initiative in 2005 that will focus on improving children’s lives economically worldwide, and in helping young people make compassionate service part of their lives.

A summary of the Lotzars' Fair Trade-related activities is included in the newsletter. Look for in-depth articles from them on their Indian experiences in the near future. We hope you enjoy our first newsletter. Feel free to write to us at info@goldenblossom.com with comments about it.

The Fair Trade movement began in the 1950’s in the US and Europe. Partners in developed countries formed Alternative Trader Organizations (ATOs) to promote direct, equitable trade with grassroots producers from developing countries. ATOs bought directly from producers, thereby eliminating middlemen, and gave producers a fair price while assisting them in developing market contacts and trade experience.

Not many of us realize that large declines in world prices of commodities can have a devastating effect on the lives of millions of small producers in the developing world, resulting in enormous personal debt and the loss of land and homes. In response to the sharp decline of world coffee prices in 1988, the first Fair Trade certificate initiative was born. The brand “Max Havelaar” was created, named after a fictional Dutch character who opposed the exploitation of coffee pickers in Dutch colonies.

The Netherlands-based initiative moved away from the ATO model in a significant way. The group’s seal was offered to mainstream coffee roasters who were willing to trade even a fraction of their total volume on Fair Trade terms. This brought Fair Trade into mainstream supermarkets, gave consumers the chance to choose Fair Trade coffee, and greatly increased the number of farmers who benefited from Fair Trade.

Once the Fair Trade seal proved itself as a viable marketing concept, it spread throughout Europe and the US.  Today 19 national initiatives are united across Europe, Japan, North America, Mexico and Australia/New Zealand to govern the European-based international standard setting organization Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO). FLO works with more than 800,000 producers, workers and their dependents in more than 45 countries. In the United States, the Fair Trade Federation (FTF) is the leading association of fair trade wholesalers, retailers, and producers. Its members are committed to providing fair wages and good employment opportunities to economically disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide. Additional FTF principles and practices include cooperative workplaces, provision of healthy and safe working conditions within the local context, education, environmental sustainability, respect for cultural identity, and providing financial and technical assistance to producers whenever possible.

One wonderful aspect of Fair Trade is that it can make buying something a more personal affair.  For example GBPI plans on featuring profiles of the producers of Fair Trade products that we sell in the future.  It is much easier to be in unity with someone when you know something about them!

You can visit our links page to find out more about Fair Trade, the organizations mentioned above and other groups doing great work to promote Fair Trade around the world.

The following story is from Oxfam. It signals hope for millions of coffee farmers all over the world that their dire economic situation will improve:

US Plans to Rejoin International Coffee Organization
16 September, 2004
US membership will help create solutions to coffee crisis.

In a move praised around the world by coffee farmer advocates and coffee consuming countries alike, the United States government announced its intention to rejoin the International Coffee Organization, the international forum for coffee trade policy and production.

About 25 million farmers depend on coffee crops to feed their families. But plummeting coffee prices have created a global humanitarian crisis where farmers in poor countries sell their coffee beans for much less than they spend to harvest them, creating increased poverty, hunger, and dislocation in 50 coffee-growing countries.

The US government's involvement with the ICO could help strengthen international efforts to alleviate that problem, said Seth Petchers, Coffee Program Coordinator for Oxfam America.

As the largest coffee importing nation in the world, representing about a quarter of the world's consumption, the US can push for quality improvement programs, direct market access, and diversification initiatives, which could help increase the price that family farmers receive.

"Coffee plays a crucial role in the economic health of communities in poor countries all over the world," Petchers said. "If the US steps up to the plate, they might be able to put serious money into development programs that would increase the share of the price of coffee farmers receive."

Robert Nelson, president and CEO of the National Coffee Association, said the US had made a "historic decision."

"I believe the main goal of representatives from US government when they go to the ICO will be to promote policies and practices that ultimately create an environment where farmers can effectively compete in the global marketplace," Nelson said. "US membership, through taking an active leadership role, can very much ensure future sustainability of the worldwide coffee industry."

The US was a founding member of the ICO in 1963, but it left the group in 1993 to protest what it regarded as one group impeding the free market system.

Some believe the ICO's approach has appeared more market-oriented in recent years.

Plus, nongovernmental groups like Oxfam America have worked with congress people on both sides of the aisle to encourage the US government to realize the important role it could play if it returned to the ICO.

US Rep Sam Farr (D-California), who pushed for US intervention in the coffee crisis, said he saw firsthand how important coffee crops could be to sustaining developing nations when he worked as a Peace Corp volunteer in Colombia in the 1960s.

US membership in the ICO won't immediately solve the problems of coffee farmers around the world, he said, but "it's a gigantic step forward."

Oxfam America urged the US to rejoin the ICO through its Make Trade Fair campaign. Oxfam America also assists coffee growing cooperatives, educates consumers, and promotes the retail sales of Fair Trade Certified coffee.

Perhaps we in North America and Europe don't really live in first world countries. Perhaps we actually live in the third world.

I was taught in an intro to international relations class in college that the third world countries are in India, Africa and Asia. Europe and North America contained the first world countries. The message I received was we are first because we have more (‘we are more developed’).

More than three billion people live in Asia and the Indian subcontinent (plus hundreds of millions in Africa, South America and the Middle East). Most of these people live in what we Americans call the third world, which simply means that we come first, that we are the standard.

Here in Kolkata I saw through the eyes of a “third world” citizen. For a moment the conditions seemed normal and American affluence was the anomaly. Since most of the world knows this state as the norm, it is a thoroughly acceptable standard to most of the world.

Super abundance, privilege, comfort, distance, and cushion: these are some words that describe how I saw the U.S. in Kolkata. This is probably a common experience for those of us who are privileged enough to travel overseas. What struck me was not just seeing how abundant America is -- which it is, and tremendously so – it was what it is like to see others from the compassionate place of Mother Earth. From that perspective third world citizens aren't “others” anymore; they are children of Mother Earth just like me. There is no reason from the perspective of the heart, for American life to be more meaningful than any other. We may get this intellectually, but it is important to get this viscerally and to live it. From a global perspective, "they" are the norm; we are the unusually privileged few. What we do with that privilege is our choice.

From the Day Chocolate Company's Poetry Contest
By Aileen Carter of Crickhowell High School, Crickhowell, South Wales
What does Fairtrade chocolate really taste of?

Fairtrade chocolate tastes like a roof on a family’s home,
It tastes like a farmer’s pride in what he’s grown,
It tastes like managing your own business and profit on trade,
It tastes like a hard day’s work that is fairly paid.

It tastes of the smile of a child who can have an education
It tastes like the end of injustice and beginning of co-operation
Fairtrade chocolate tastes like balancing the scales
The deal between Ghanaian farmers and here in Wales

It smells like an end to inequality and unfair trade,
It smells like the bags of cocoa being properly weighed,
It smells like the beans being harvested in Ghanaian sun
And delicious chocolate that benefits everyone!