The Economics of Fair Trade
Ever since I heard about fair trade upon my arrival to Wolfville, it had just made sense: farmers don’t deserve the treatment they get from the middlemen, especially in the coffee industry; Fair Trade is a solution. However last year, when I was campaigning against a Tim Horton’s franchise in the Student Union Building, I ran across a report from the Adam Smith Institute (a free-market think tank) describing how fair trade distorts markets and makes little difference in the welfare of farmers. Since I had little time on my hands (this was during exams), I asked Satya Ramen of the Just Us Development and Education Soceity (JUDES) if she had prepared any response before, and since she hadn’t, she worked hard to produce a very well written piece detailing the principles of fair trade in response to the Adam Smith Institute report. I found that by reading both the Adam Smith report and Satya’s response I gained a deeper understanding of the large scale mechanics behind the Fair Trade initiative. So here are some resources for the fair trade debate:
- “Unfair Trade” by Mark Sidwell of the Adam Smith Institute
- “The Bitter Aftertaste” by WorldWRITE
- Response to “Unfair Trade”, by Satya Ramen of JUDES
- The Fairtrade Research Institute Publications Index
- “A Response to the Adam Smith Report & A New Way to Think About Measuring the Content of the Fair Trade Cup” by Alastair Smith of BRASS
- Fairtrade Labelling Organization (FLO) Standards
Wheelock Trayless!
Following last year’s trayless Fridays and individual pledges not to use trays, Wheelock has finally made the switch. According to the press release, the initiative stems from a partnership between Students Affairs, the Arthur Irving Academy for the Environment, Facilities Management, Chartwells, and the Acadia Student Environment Network, but emphasizes that the move is a “student initiative”, perhaps to stem complaints from those who objected to trayless Fridays last year.
Removing trays from cafeterias is a nationwide trend. It reduces food waste by up to a third, reduces water consumption, and helps control overeating in dining halls. The University’s information sheet on the topic points to going trayless as a way around the fabled “Freshman 15″, which I found amusing.
Acadia Orientation Goes Green
Thanks to Jodie Noiles, Brynne Sinclair-Walters and Will Roberts (and others), Acadia’s New Student Orientation is going green. The Orientation Schedule features green events such as the President’s Trayless Lunch, two environmentally focused Special Interest Groups and a team of “Eco-Leaders” (in green t-shirts, of course) to provide information on opportunities to gt involved with the environmental organizations on campus. Additionally, eco-leaders will be at many events involving food to assist in waste sorting to improve events in the future.
ASU to Self-Operate Market, Coffeeshop in ‘09
According to a release by the ASU yesterday, the ASU is planning to “[move] forward with a self-operated food services model for implementation in September 2009.” This will include operating a market, coffee shop and grille line for the coming year, with strategic discussions including “a food service survey followed by several focus groups, public information meetings, a presentation to the Students’ Representative Council for ratification purposes, and finally, a referendum if necessary.”
The release mentions that talks ceased between Tim Horton’s and the ASU due to a need for “more research and consultation”, though other sources seem to indicate that a Tim Horton’s option would have required a sizable investment that the ASU was not prepared to make without consulting students.
In ‘08, Steele Runs on Transparency, Foodservice
This article isn’t available online for some reason, so I had to look in the University archives to find it. Tim Horton’s was mentioned breifly towards the end as something he would be looking into the option of. I’m disappointed that even from the getgo the ASU exec seemed pegged on bringing in restaurant chains seemingly without considering a community operated approach. Also note Steele’s pledge for transparency in the ASU. Since I had to type this up myself, there’s only two quotes. You’ll have to look in the university archives yourself (Volume 70 issue 14) to find more about his platform, including looking into Radio Acadia, a Mac Computer lab in the Michner Lounge and others.
Building on transparency, I propose the ASU President gives a monthly presentation to the student body at large. This would promote person to person interaction allow for students to ask question in person, and get immediate answers, as well as keeping the student body consistently informed on the issues that matter. These talks would be recorded and put on the ASU website for those who may have missed them.
…Chartwells has taken their monopoly on campus food service for granted, and I am committed to doing something about it. If elected, I will be looking into the option of a buy-out of Chartwells in the SUB, with ideas of replacing them with private retailers such as Tim Horton’s and a more popular restaurant chain.
Meeting with ASU Exec goes down not unlike a staring contest between two sheep
Do sheep blink? I’m not sure, but if they don’t, that’s about how the meeting went down.
We learned some new information, and I’ll try to summarize it the best I can. First, we learned what “legal issues” were preventing the ASU from telling anybody…anything? They articulated that in business contracts are generally confidential because companies give different kickbacks in different situations. The letter of intent contains financial information which can’t be disclosed. Since they’ve been talking to Tim Horton’s since August, they haven’t been able to say anything, including who they were negotiating with.
They reiterated their position that the process they used to make the decision was (Read on …)
Letter of Intent Mentioned in March 10th Email
This is our bad. Amy looked over some old emails, and Kyle told Amy in passing about the letter of intent on March 10, about two weeks before I wrote the letter to Kyle and the Ath (March 24). I first saw this email today, and I’m sorry to the ASU exec for claims that the they *never* talked with us about this. Amy emailed Kyle to setup a meeting about Bottled Water in the SUB, with a congradulatory note about the ASU buying out the contract. In his reply, along with information about the Pepsi contract, he mentioned a letter of intent from a “coffee shop”. Kyle has asked me not to post this email, although (Read on …)
Linda Lusby to Kyle Steele
Dear Kyle –
I have recently been made aware of the ASU’s decision to contract with Tim Horton’s for food services in the SUB. I feel compelled to register my disappointment and sense of despair that such a decision could be made at this point in Acadia’s history. I will leave aside the matter of participatory decision making as that is essentially a student issue and I will not interfere in that.
However as a member of the Acadia community and a resident of Wolfville for over 25 years, I do feel I have a right and a responsibility to comment on the substance of this decision. Over the years I have both observed and participated in Acadia’s (Read on …)
An Interesting Observation
ASU releases message concerning food services
The original copy can be found here.
The ASU has been, and continues to be a democratically elected body, that makes democratic decisions based on student feedback. Recently, it has been brought to the attention of the Executive that some confusion exists around the prospect of opening a Tim Horton’s in the SUB for the 2009-2010 academic year.
A year and a half ago, the ASU Executive created a (Read on …)
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