Organic and Fair Trade Certifications: What Are the Upsides and Downsides?

Certifications such as organic and fair trade are great ways to quickly inform consumers that a product they want to buy was made at a high environmental and ethical standard and give producers meeting those standards an edge in the market… that is, if the certifications use proper, well-enforced criteria, producers can actually obtain the certification, and consumers actually know what the labels mean. Today, we break down some of the challenges facing certification schemes, as well as some specific issues with organic and fair trade, and ponder how these programs could improve. With special guest Dr. Graeme Auld: Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University in Canada and author of “Constructing Private Governance: The Rise and Evolution of Forest, Coffee, and Fisheries Certification.”