Small farmers all over the world live on a knife's edge due to the vicissitudes of commodity prices determined by the politicians and technocrats of 'free' trade. They aren't poor because they shun hard work. They don't need charity to prosper. They want fair prices for their products. They want fair trade. [This commentary from the publisher is NOT printed on the card.] There is one myth that needs to be dispelled about Fair Trade: it is not some newly invented, tree-hugger idea. Buying Fair Trade is not a commitment to a radical movement. It is simply an affirmation of all that we used to take for granted; all that prior generations of workers struggled to achieve. Fair trade principles include a reasonable workday, a paycheck that sustains life, health and safety standards, job security, and the ability to plan for the future. Fair trade sometimes costs a bit more because rather than grind down the workers and the planet to get every conceivable thing for as little as possible, fairly traded products accurately represent the hours of toil and resources required to produce them. Fair trade also eliminates the endless 'middleman' trade circuit where the final price includes so many markups to so many people who did nothing but buy and sell (sometimes from the floor of a stock market without ever seeing the product) and who do not deserve to get richer than the original producer. When you buy fair trade today you join an illustrious lineage of people who have struggled to improve working lives since the 18th century.