The Fairtrade sticker promises a direct line from your extra dollar to a farmer, but the economics tell a messier story. The label grew out of the collapse of the 1962 International Coffee Agreement, the UN negotiated quota system that held prices up for decades until talks stalled in 1989 and unrestricted coffee flooded the market. In 1988 the Netherlands launched Max Havelaar, named for a fictional Dutch critic of colonial exploitation, and in 1997 four national networks merged into Fairtrade International, known as FLO, which today guarantees a floor of $1.40 per pound for arabica and $1.05 for robusta.

The trouble is demand. Only a fraction of certified coffee finds a buyer willing to pay the premium, as low as 13.6% in 2001 and roughly 37% to 50% more recently, while cooperatives pay certification and inspection fees on their whole crop. The label also runs on the small scale producer standard, which assumes family labor and leaves out the seasonal pickers who do most of the harvest. Critics in the specialty trade argue a guaranteed floor dulls the reward for quality, and roasters like Intelligentsia and Counter Culture have turned to direct trade, swapping third party audits for brand trust.

• When the world price rises above the floor, importers must pay 20 cents per pound over market, plus a 30 cent premium for organic beans.
• Fairtrade coffee is exported through nested primary, secondary, and tertiary cooperatives, and surplus money usually funds social projects like classrooms or baseball fields rather than cash to farmers.
• One cooperative could cover only 70% of its extra marketing and administrative costs even after six years in the scheme.
• In a survey of certified cooperatives in Ethiopia, seasonal harvest workers made up 78% of the workforce hired by smallholder households.
• Research by Deborah Sick in Costa Rica found farmers selling their best beans to specialty buyers and routing lower grade lots through the Fairtrade cooperative.