Food First recently released the report:
Fair to the Last Drop: The Corporate Challenges to Fair Trade Coffee by Eric Holt-Giménez, Ian Bailey, and Devon Sampson.

You can find it at: http://www.foodfirst.org/node/1794

Fair to the Last Drop gives a great introduction to the history of Fair Trade and then seeks to present the challenge of corporate participation in Fair Trade.

The report looks at the evolution of the Fair Trade movement and the push in the last few years led by Transfair for the mainstreaming of the FT movement. As the report notes, this push brings to light core questions facing the FT movement today - are we seeking to provide a radical alternative to the trading system to disrupt the continuation of trading patterns based off of colonial relationships? Or are we simply seeking to benefit the largest amount of farmers possible even if it is only a minimal increase in their daily standard of living? This is the difference as Food First labels it between "movement companies" who source 100% fair trade and are value driven and "corporate colonizers" who are benefiting and perpetuating an unequal trading system but, using Fair Trade, are able to create a "halo effect" (having one ethical product to point to which overshadows the fact that most of the products offered are not ethically produced/sourced).

The report covers Alternative Trading Organizations - those movement companies which source 100% Fair Trade and those which have abandoned the label to set their own higher standards. While these are laudable companies, it does point out that they may not have the capactiy to bring Fair Trade to scale to help the largest number of producers.

It proposes the following for the future of Fair Trade:

"The future of Fairtrade hinges on the degree to which it can bring producers, consumers and roaster-distributors not just into its market, but into the growing social movements for agrarian change. It is axiomatic that movement building depends on a sense of belonging, commitment and substantive participation in decision-making. But because Fairtrade is a business as well as a movement, this participation also depends on ownership. To ensure the politically committed participation of farmers in Fairtrade, they must not only be "stakeholders" in development, but "shareholders" in the business. Giving farmers a majority stake on the FLO board of directors would go a long way towards this goal."

I'd like to thank Food First for putting out this thoughtful, well researched critique and the proposals for ensuring that Fair Trade stays true to its values. As a member of USFT, I'm proud of our position as both an agitator within the movement and an advocate for Fair Trade. For the success of this movement - in order to create real substantial change - we all must continue to question and hold each other accountable in creating a fair trading system based off of respect, transparency and solidarity with producers.