Fair-trade and organic products are often sold at price premiums justified by smaller
production volumes that are associated with greater social and environmental responsibility. The
consumption of these products confers on the consumer a greater sense of morality – and usually a
claim to better taste. This paper tells the story of attempts to promote organic/fair-trade rice
production by de facto organic Cambodian farmers for export to North American and European
markets in order to assist poor farmers to trade their way out of poverty. It demonstrates that instead
of promoting sustainable agriculture and fair trade between developed and developing markets,
organic/fair-trade projects may impose First World consumer ideals and tastes that are out of step
with the larger realities of agrarian transition in Cambodia and the wider region of developing
Southeast Asia.
