<P> The marketing system for Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade coffee is identical in the consuming countries, using mostly the same importing, packing, distributing and retailing firms . Some independent brands operate a virtual company, paying the normal importers, packers and distributors and advertising agencies to handle their brand rather than doing it themselves, for cost reasons . </P> <P> Many fair trade organizations remain that adhere to a greater or smaller degree to the original objectives of fair trade than the mainstream of Fairtrade International and its associate . These market products through alternative channels where possible, and market through specialist fair trade shops, but they have a small proportion of the total market . </P> <P> Criticisms of fair trade have been made as a result of independent research, and these are summarized in the fair trade debate . </P> <P> There are also some criticisms of fair trade specific to coffee . Colleen Haight of the Stanford Innovation Review argues that fair trade coffee is merely a way to market the idea of ethical consumerism . Quality and transparency concerns regarding coffee are increasingly common amongst some consumers and coffee companies, as seen through the rise of the third wave coffee movement . Maintaining a balance between ethical and higher - quality coffee may be difficult with fair trade coffee due to what some coffee roasters deem as insufficient quality incentive within many fair - trade certified coffee farms . Deborah Sick's research, involving interviews with coffee farmers in Costa Rica, finds that many farmers often produce more fair trade coffee than they can sell, so will often end up selling to independent buyers that will often pay more than fair trade buyers can . Some scholars are concerned of the artificial stimulation of coffee production, especially since worldwide demand for coffee is relatively inelastic . </P>

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