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Fair Trade is a market-based development strategy that aims to provide a living wage to producers who fulfill a set of environmental and social norms. The market for Fair Trade products is growing rapidly in Europe and the United States, led by sales in Fair Trade coffee. This paper examines the Fair Trade strategy as it has worked out the ground among a group of coffee producers in Western Honduras. The paper reviews the evolution of the coffee market in general terms and the emergence of the Fair Trade alternative, then chronicles the rise of a relatively successful coffee cooperative, and examines the factors responsible for their ability to sell their coffee on the international market through organic, Fair Trade channels, as well as the barriers to market entry.
Smith et al. (2012) studied this question.