As an aside, I wonder if you have seen Steve leighton’s article on FT here: http://faq.hasbean.co.uk/questions/13/Fair+Trade+for+who%3F+A+counter+view+to+the+Fair+Trade+Debate+ ?

I guess what’s in my mind when I suggested going further is the idea of constructing some alternative approaches to seeking high quality, ethically sourced coffee.
While I’m upfront about my serious reservations with Fairtrade, it’s important to have some alternatives to offer consumers (assuming there are some), so I guess I’m saying lets come out with some other suggested buying practices.

Thank you for your kind words.

Neil, I would love to write more and more on this topic and, indeed, on most other topics that I post on this web page! I don’t think that I’m going to revisit this topic for a little while, but you can take solace in the following ;P

1. There are more articles in the pipeline that I hope readers will find interesting.
2. I have a bad habit of waffling on, so keeping it short helps to reduce the extent to which I can do that!
3. Many of the sources that I have included in the footnotes can be accessed for free online and will be of interest to people interested in the subject matter.

On that last point, if anyone has any thoughts on the subject or any links to interesting material, I’d love you to share them in the comments to this article!

Cheers,

Luca