I Always Knew they were into Greek

Berlin's international Green Week fair is a showcase for agricultural produce from around the world. Yet few products from developing countries make it to the EU due to high import tariffs and strict standards.

Right after you get the weekly lecture on how marvelously humane and global they are, and some teenager or middle aged kook gives you their fair-trade pitch, Europeans go right back to making the third world’s small-scale enterpreneurial farmers grab their ankles and take some more of Europe’s precious artisanal terroirism for the pittance their major industries would risk.

Issa Ouedraogo from Ghana has as a dream.

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Neighboring African countries as well as Europe could become a lucrative market for Ouedaogo and other small farmers in developing countries. But the high import taxes charged by the EU pose a major impediment to international trade.

Which would be fine if they didn’t get so caught up objectifying third world peasant farmers as pitiable victims and just buy their goods.

Critics have been arguing that the tariff policy exploits developing countries as suppliers of cheap, unprocessed food products without giving them a fair chance on the European market.

Oh! Just think of all of those horrible Food Miles!

And now for something completely different: