section may not adequately summarize key points of its contents . please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of all important aspects of the article . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . december 2012 fair trade usa type non profit organization industry product certification founded 1998 headquarters oakland california united states key people paul rice president and ceo ron d. cordes chairman of the board number of employees 50 2011 website www.fairtradeusa.org fair trade usa formerly transfair usa 1 is a 501 c 3 non profit organization . contents 1 about 2 growth in fair trade 3 consumer awareness 3.1 fair trade month 4 fairtrade international 5 criticisms of fair trade 6 mobile and social innovation 7 references 8 external links about edit see also fair trade founded in 1998 by the institute for agricultural trade policy iatp 2 fair trade usa is an independent nonprofit organization that sets standards 3 certifies and labels products that promote sustainable livelihoods for farmers and workers and protect the environment . its mission is to enable sustainable development and community empowerment by cultivating a more equitable global trade model that benefits farmers workers consumers industry and the earth . 4 the fair trade model requires rigorous protection of local ecosystems and ensures farmers work in safe conditions and receive a harvest price . in addition annual inspections conducted by independent auditors like flo cert and scs global services ensure that strict socioeconomic development criteria are being met in addition to sustainable farm management environmental stewardship and democratic decision making . the fair trade model seeks to empower farmers and workers around the world keeping families local economies the natural environment and the larger community strong today and for generations to come . fair trade usa currently partners with over 800 brands as well as 1.3 million farmers and workers in over 70 countries worldwide . fair trade certified products encompass many different commodities including coffee tea cocoa sugar spices honey produce grains wine & spirits flowers apparel & home goods and body care . 5 these commodities differ in location and types of labor used . growth in fair trade edit since 1998 fair trade usa has certified over 1 billion pounds of fair trade coffee . 6 this has helped coffee farmers in developing countries earn over 124 million in community development premiums to date with 30.8 million in 2013 alone . 6 these additional premiums are reinvested in family and community development education and environmental and productivity projects . although coffee remains the most popular fair trade product fair trade usa certifies a variety of product categories including tea cocoa sugar spices honey produce grains wine & spirits flowers apparel & home goods and body care . 7 there are now more than 12 000 individual fair trade certified products available in north america 8 and the market is growing rapidly . in 2011 fair trade certified sales amounted to approximately us 1.4 billion . 9 and in 2010 data confirmed that mainstream consumers were increasing commitment to fair trade certified products with a 24 % sales increase in grocery stores . 10 consumer awareness edit according to new data from the natural marketing institute nmi 55 % of the u.s. population is aware of the fair trade certified label up from 38 % in 2012 . 11 awareness is now reaching levels similar to usda organic certification . 11 each year fair trade usa conducts two major consumer education campaigns fair trade month october and mother s day may . fair trade month edit october is fair trade month in the united states . this yearly celebration focuses on increasing awareness and building support for fair trade in the united states . throughout the month manufacturers retailers students ngo organizations and fair trade towns hold events and promotions in support of fair trade . in 2011 fair trade usa and partner brands garnered support for fair trade with the help of several celebrity ambassadors . comedian jimmy fallon kicked off fair trade month by hosting ice cream makers ben & jerry on the late night with jimmy fallon . the october 4 2011 episode mentioned the march episode in which ben cohen and jerry greenfield introduced their new flavor featuring fair trade certified ingredients late night snack . introducing the ice cream flavor which is made with fair trade certified vanilla and cocoa gave ben and jerry the opportunity to discuss fair trade and the company s goal to use entirely fair trade certified ingredients by 2013 . 12 green mountain coffee partnered with musical groups michael franti & spearhead and grace potter and the nocturnals 13 to broadcast live concerts in support of fair trade promoting fair trade . both concerts were streamed on the green mountain coffee facebook page . 14 green mountain coffee was recognized in september 2011 as the largest purchaser of fair trade certified coffee in the world having bought 26 million pounds of fair trade coffee during 2010 . 15 also in 2011 pastry chef malika ameen of top chef just desserts season 1 joined celebrity dietician ashley koff to create three dishes full of fair trade certified ingredients for a live ustream broadcast during fair trade month . the episode was called every meal matters and consisted of a live cooking demonstration using fair trade certified honey vanilla extract ground cinnamon ground cardamom bananas mangos pineapples quinoa natural cane sugar coffee chocolate and brown sugar . 16 fairtrade international edit this section may lend undue weight to certain ideas incidents or controversies . please help to create a more balanced presentation . discuss and resolve this issue before removing this message . march 2012 fair trade usa has been its own independent nonprofit organization since it was founded it 1998 as well as a member of fairtrade international . on september 15 2011 fair trade usa announced that it would resign its flo membership . 17 in a press release the organization states that fairtrade international flo and fair trade usa share a belief in the importance of empowering producers and workers around the world to improve their lives through better terms of trade . however as we look to the future we recognize that we have different perspectives on how best to achieve this common mission . 17 after resigning its membership fair trade usa launched a new initiative called fair trade for all which is a vision for doubling the impact of fair trade for more farmers and workers across the globe . 18 as part of this strategy fair trade usa launched pilot projects to extend certification to groups in the coffee industry who were historically excluded by flo standards beginning with coffee farm workers and independent smallholder farmers . 19 the group states that according to u.n. poverty statistics over two billion people still live on less than two dollars a day . we at fair trade usa believe that all small farmers and farm workers deserve to have access to the opportunities and benefits of fair trade if we ever hope to make a significant dent in global poverty . 18 at the same time fair trade usa launched co op link an initiative that ftusa claims will strengthen producer organizations by providing cooperatives with increased market opportunity in the u.s. improved access to capital and an expanded range of capacity building and quality improvement initiatives . 20 paul rice told triple pundit the challenge for us all now is how we can evolve the fair trade model in order to make it bigger more scalable and to have greater impact on hard working farmers and farm workers around the world . and so toward that end we ve recently launched fair trade for all which is our effort to evolve and innovate the fair trade model in order to make it more scalable . innovation for impact is really the way we re thinking about it . 21 fair trade usa announced a partnership with scientific certification systems on september 27 2011 to conduct audits and certify new producer groups that now will be able to join the fair trade movement . 22 criticisms of fair trade edit main article fair trade debate critics claim that fair trade is unethical . consumers are willing to pay more for fair trade products in the belief that this helps the very poor . 23 the main ethical criterion of critics of fair trade is that this money is diverted from the very poor farmers to businesses in rich countries to moderately poor farmers to employees of cooperatives or are used for unnecessary expenses so there is inevitably an increase in death and destitution . this informs criticisms that there is reason to doubt that much of the extra money paid reaches farmers and that there is reason to believe that fair trade harms non fair trade farmers . there are criticisms of what is designated unfair trading under eu law . there are also criticisms using many other criteria . 24 the evidence is that little of the extra money paid by consumers reaches the third world let alone farmers there . the fairtrade foundation does not monitor how much extra retailers charge for fair trade goods and retailers almost never sell identical fair trade and non fair trade lines side by side so it is rarely possible to determine how much extra is charged or how much reaches the producers in spite of the unfair trading legislation . in four cases it has been possible to find out . one british caf chain was passing on less than one percent of the extra charged to the exporting cooperative ; 25 in finland valkila haaparanta and niemi 26 found that consumers paid much more for fair trade and that only 11.5 % reached the exporter . kilian jones pratt and villalobos 27 talk of us fairtrade coffee getting 5 per lb extra at retail of which the exporter would have received only 2 % . mendoza and bastiaensen 28 calculated that in the uk only 1.6 % to 18 % of the extra charged for one product line reached the farmer . all these studies assume that the importers paid the full fair trade price which is not necessarily the case . 29 many counter examples would be needed to show that these are not typical . flo s own figures 30 are compatible with this . they claim that 1.53 % of retail prices reach the third world and since fairtrade charges a 3 % licensing fee at wholesale the maximum that reaches the third world even if traders charge low margins is 50 % . this would be unacceptable to most charities . the fairtrade foundation does not monitor how much of the extra money paid to the exporting cooperatives reaches the farmer . the cooperatives incur costs in reaching the fair trade political standards and these are incurred on all production even if only a small amount is sold at fair trade prices . the most successful cooperatives appear to spend a third of the extra price received on this some less successful cooperatives spend more than they gain . while this appears to be agreed by proponents and critics of fair trade 31 there is a dearth of economic studies setting out the actual revenues and what the money was spent on . flo figures 30 are that 40 % of the money reaching the third world is spent on business and production which would include these costs as well as costs incurred by any inefficiency and corruption in the cooperative or the marketing system . the rest is stated to be spent on social projects rather than being passed on to farmers . there is no evidence that fair trade farmers get higher prices on average . anecdotes state that farmers were paid more or less