Laura Raynolds just got back from sabbatical last weekend and I am getting ready to leave for a month of talks and meetings in Northern Europe and elsewhere. So both of us are a bit over-extended at the moment. But we really enjoyed the posting on Fair Trade and the previous ones on Organics and the call for action (or blogging). We will try and get into the blogging process when we are both back in the Center for Fair and Alternative Trade Studies at the end of summer. I am copying this email, and the blog link (www.agrifoodresearch.blogspot.com), to Mike Conroy. He is sort of a god father of Fair Trade in the U.S. and knows the history very well (in the spirit of full disclosure, he is on the Board of our Center as well as the Board of TransfairUSA). Might be fun to get his impressions on how the movement has unfolded and how the different tendencies are influencing its future direction.Also, we continue to run multiple projects out of the Center that should cast new light on the future of Fair Trade. Upcoming initiatives include a study of synergies between the Fair Trade Movement and the Labor Movement vis a vis differing global organizing and campaign strategies; a now underway study of the history and future potential of faith-based fair trade, beginning with the example of Ten Thousand Villages; an exploration of sustainable tourism from the perspective of social justice and fair trade; and a recently begun investigation on the convergence of Be Local, the Organics Movement (particularly in so far as there is a "Beyond Organic" dimension to it) and fair trade (both in its traditional form focusing on the developing world and its newer tendency around domestic fair trade). Most of these new initiatives will be underway sometime this fall and some new articles should be available this fall as well, so stay tuned to our website:
Chat soon,
Doug Murray
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