Beginning Monday, all bananas sold at Home Plate will be ones certified as "fair trade," a change that resulted from collaboration between Dartmouth Ends Hunger and Dartmouth Dining Services. The price of Home Plate bananas will rise from 75 to 85 cents, but the other dining venues on campus will still offer non-fair trade bananas at the original price.
"I think it's a personal choice whether or not you want to spend the extra ten cents," Jonathan Merten '09, who led the efforts to switch bananas, said. "Giving a dime to ensure livable working conditions isn't that much to ask. The benefits far outweigh the costs."
Merten, an active member of DEH since his freshman year, led the initiative to switch to fair trade bananas after his experience with these products over the summer.
"I worked for OxFam America last summer, and they do a lot of fair trade promotion. I came back to Dartmouth with a good knowledge of fair trade and thought that it was a new avenue for our group to take," he said.
Merten first contacted DDS in the beginning of fall term and worked primarily with David Newlove, the associate director of DDS, and Beth DiFrancesco, the purchasing manager, to bring fair trade bananas to campus. DEH also sponsored events such as a "Fair Trade Halloween" to educate Dartmouth students on the benefits of fair trade products.
"It's not too difficult to make the change because we already have a vendor who carries fair trade bananas," Newlove said. "The challenge is educating the customer on why it's better to buy a fair trade banana over a non-fair trade banana."
According to the organization that certifies products as fair trade, fair trade bananas ensure direct trade between the farmer and the importer, environmentally friendly farming conditions, safe working environments and equitable wages for the producer.
"For an average non-fair trade cup of coffee that costs three dollars, only about three cents of that cost go back to the producer," Merten said.
In order for a product to become fair trade certified, producers must go through an extensive application process to ensure that their product meets fair trade standards. Programs are especially prevalent in developing continents such as Africa and South America, and certified products include coffee, chocolate, fruits, vegetables and rice.
Newlove remarked that DDS chose Home Plate as the best venue for the change because of its focus on sustainability and small size, which will ease gathering consumer opinions. DDS will monitor changes in sales and Merten will set up a blitz account to encourage student feedback.
Currently, all Dartmouth dining options offer fair trade coffee, but both Newlove and Merten hope that positive feedback about the bananas will lead to the availability of even more fair trade products on campus.
Newlove stated that the next step may be the sale of fair trade chocolate at Topside while Merten hopes to see more flavors of fair trade coffee, as well as tea and sugar, arrive on campus in the near future.
"A feasible goal is to make sure that all bananas at Dartmouth are fair trade," Merten said. "If it works at Home Plate, we can expand. There is definitely room for expansion."
Thursday night, DEH will hold a fair trade coffee house at Collis Common Ground from 7 to 9 p.m., where information and samples of fair trade products will be available. Vieux Farka Toure, a Mali recording artist brought to campus by Students for Africa, will perform from 8 to 9 p.m.
