Well, I don't know if any of Artisans du Monde's salespeople is paid. But I know at least that a great many AREN'T.

So it already means that more of the value stream goes to the producer.

Now, they say that 10% of the extra price goes to the producer (that may be, I have no idea). Any guess as to how much of the price goes to the producer in a standard distribution ? I can't remember (I did read it once) but I reckon we are talking around 1-2%. So if they get 10% of the difference, it probably means they double or treble their income. That's quite major -and the true metric for the effectiveness of such schemes.

So what they are saying is that retailers that can't have the kind of economies of scale, or pressure on all intermediate actors as major stores (and therefore probably higher costs), still end up giving hugely more to the producer, while more or less ensuring that workers are treated decently and that crops are grown in a reasonably environmently friendly way.

I guess that, from them, it counts as criticism.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi