Tasting showcases Fair Trade products

The anthropology museum gift shop sells Fair Trade products.

By Amanda Wysocki

Published Feb. 12, 2009

In an effort to raise awareness about Fair Trade practices, the Anthropology Students Association held a free coffee, tea and chocolate tasting at the Museum of Anthropology.

The event, held on Wednesday, was the first of its kind that ASA has hosted.

"A number of us have gone to different wine tastings around town," ASA president Matthew Boulanger said. "We wanted to do something similar to that for ASA."

The event highlighted many of the Fair Trade items offered in the Museum of Anthropology gift shop, including Yerba Mate tea, Mad Poet Blend coffee and six different types of chocolates.

Boulanger also wanted to raise awareness about what anthropology really is.

"Anthropology is not restricted to people living in a jungle somewhere," Boulanger said. "But at its core, anthropology seeks to study, explain and cultivate respect for all cultures, everywhere. We wanted to find a way to get people to come together in a low-stress environment and discuss how the Fair Trade movement dovetails with anthropology as well as many other areas of study here at MU."

Fair Trade is a way to ensure that the workers who produce the foods and crafts sold in stores around the world get a fair share of the profits.

"It is important because it ensures the people who made the products get a fair wage," assistant museum curator Jessica Boldt said. "It also gives back to the communities where the products came from."

Retired agricultural economics professor John Ikerd gave a lecture at the tasting about the principles and effects of Fair Trade, which include market access at a fair price, environmental integrity, social responsibility, community empowerment and consumer awareness.

"It came around because of concern over just relying on free markets and the fact that it doesn't have an equitable return to people in third-world countries," Ikerd said. "With free trade, people are not truly free to trade in a classical economic sense. Those who are in power are in a position to exploit those who aren't."

Ikerd first got into the fair trade movement after learning that a friend of his bought coffee from a trade co-op in Costa Rica.

"In the early days, I was very skeptical," Ikerd said. "I was a very traditional agricultural economist."

Ikerd realized that there were more benefits to the Fair Trade movement.

"It creates a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect," Ikerd said. "It seeks greater equity and goes back to the concept of basic human rights and dignity in employment."

One of the primary benefits of Fair Trade is that it promotes sustainability and environmental integrity, Ikerd said.

"A saying we like to use is that when we buy cheap food, we are putting the cost on a credit card paid by future generations," Ikerd said.

Though Fair Trade products are more expensive than other products, Ikerd said Fair Trade products more accurately reflect the total cost in that they include the social cost to the migrant workers.

The main objective of Fair Trade is to care for the environment and for other people, Ikerd said.

The movement grew out of missionary work done by the Mennonites and began with focusing on crafts. Since its origins, the movement has begun to focus more on food and now includes coffee, tea, fruits, rice and many other things.

The museum gift shop has been selling Fair Trade products for about five years, Boldt said. The majority of the shop's items come from the Philippines, Guatemala, India and South America.