The Co-Operative and the Corporation: Competing Visions of the Future of Fair Trade

This paper provides an analysis of the fair trade network in the North through a comparative assessment of two distinctly different fair trade certified roasters: Planet Bean, a worker-owned co-operative in Guelph, Ontario; and Starbucks Coffee Company, the world’s largest specialty roaster. The two organizations are assessed on the basis of their distinct visions of the fair trade mission and their understandings of “consumer sovereignty”. It is concluded that the objectives of Planet Bean are more compatible with the moral mission of fair trade, even while the network has become increasingly dependent on the market-reach of corporations like Starbucks, raising difficult prospects for the future of fair trade.