Guilt Trip Gluttony

It is Christmas time. Again.
It is the time for annual excessive over indulgence.
Lets get something straight. Everyone loves food, because everyone needs food.
There are so many injustices in the world that occur to bring us the food we pay for, whether they be animal welfare issues, food health issues or just the injustices that face the producers of the food we consume everyday.

Due to our nations over population, we do not have enough land to grow enough food to sustain our rapacious diets. This is why most of our food comes from overseas, from countries that are less economically developed than ours, and so do not require the high wages we ourselves expect, because they don't have digital watches, DVD players, games consoles and the like. What these countries have in abundance is land and sunshine. Lots of land and lots of sunshine.

In the past the farm workers, were not getting a good price for their produce from the large supermarket chains, as they could monopolise the market and drive the price down as low as possible and still add their own ludicrously high mark up on the price on the final product whether it be coffee, bananas, chocolate, sugar or any other of the countless foodstuff that we take for granted.

This post is about Fair trade goods. Goods that are produced supposedly more ethically and see that the growers and farmers receive a “fair” price for the goods for the food that they provide.

How can Mike's Soapbox be against such a worthy, generous and seemingly worth while cause.

I have read articles recently that changed my mind on the whole issue. Before this I had an innocently oblivious idea of fair trade, and that it was a perfect system uniting the world food market, creating a utopian society much quicker than at the pace we are going at the moment.

The example first put to me was this.
“What would happen if all the builders in Sunderland, were paid ten times as much as any where else in the UK?”
Well lets discuss what would happen. All non Sunderland builders would be angry. All Sunderland non builders would be angry. As the builder's semi skilled wage would go up from an average of £720 to £7200 and their wages whether be doctor, butcher, baker or candlestick maker would be unchanged.
This would create an inequality in a system unheard of and inconceivable before. Other services like shops would inevitably raise prices, and price out non builders. This would make Sunderland a place inhabited exclusively by builders. Trapped by their own wealth which is a wealth proportionate to that area. And overproduction would ensue, but at least all the brickwork would be nicely pointed.

This is precisely what is happening in regions of the world. Land barons are cropping up and economic migrants are being caught up in a form of capitalism that greed that they are yet to understand. The people may be paid more but they are still going hungry. As their produce is almost always shipped elsewhere and it is under ripe so inedible until it reaches its final destination.

One of the main injustices of the fair trade system is that most participants of the fair trade system are in Mexico. Nearly 25% of fair trade coffee is produced there and Mexico has the largest number of fair trade producer certifications in the world even thought its is now classed as a newly economised country not a third world country like Ethiopia. Where banana production is a key source of revenue for the masses if not for food. So fair trade discriminates against the poor the very people they are trying to help.

Many others have voiced concerns about fair trade. “The Economist” on the topic of price distortion, calls fair trade “A misguided attempt to make up for price failures.” and an inefficient way of getting money to poor producers.”

I believe that price insensitive customers are being mislead, by fair trade. As some products are fair trade and are not advertised as so, and some fair trade certified products are not sold as such.

Sainsbury's now only sell Fair Trade bananas so where's the consumers choice going to. Even though they are still getting nearly 85% mark up on the cost of the item, and this is how they can have them on offer them at half price some weeks. This is due to the over production that I mentioned earlier.

I can't deny that the fair trade organisation has some good intentions but with any system, bugs need to be worked out and corruption and inequality weeded out.

So here is my conclusion. like it or not, there is one way to be sure you are doing the right thing.
Buy from your own nation. In my case I will be buying British.
If it doesn't grown in my soil should I be eating it anyway?
At least I can be sure that the farmers will be getting a fair wage, a fresher product and the price mark up would be reduced due to less time being shipped.

We all need to be more conscious of what we are eating and drinking. We need to ask more questions.
Sometimes the food may be harming us, sometimes the food might be harming others.

I will also be blogging on GM food soon, as that topic seems to be coming in through the back door at the moment. After I thought the front door was well and truly slammed in its face ten years ago.
I love recessions they bring out the stupidity in my species.

Just so I'm not making this up:
fairtrade debate on Wikipedia
Unfair Trade an nice report by Marc Sidwell
www.fairtrade.org.uk