Are You Fair Trade?
The 100% Kona green coffee you get from us is certainly Fairly Traded but the FT people do not come to Kona so we do not get that marque. The FT people assume that the US, (and Hawaii is one of the 50 US States) already does things fairly– as in paying the workers a good wage, which is true. We have a dedicated US Federal Department of Agriculture too with its own set of rules.
We are also proud to be a Sustainable farm, ensuring this land can be farmed for many generations after us. We use no pesticides nor insecticides on our farm either. I believe the FT people are not as focused on that aspect.
I also think one of the most important things about us at Smithfarms is that Bob has a college (B.S.) degree in Tropical Agriculture and that makes a lot of difference because he knows theories as well as practical solutions. Our farm is happy and healthy which is not automatic with Fair Trade farms.
I just want to assure you that we are very prudent farmers, even among Kona Coffee farmers and certainly amongst the world’s coffee farmers. We believe our coffee is raised as carefully as it can be. We are proud of our end product and spend a lot of dedicated time on the details to get it there.