You’ve heard about fair trade coffee and even sweat-free clothing, but what about rice? An organization dedicated to education about international issues is sponsoring a “farmer tour” where three rice farmers from Thailand are stopping in Washington, D.C. to hold a tasting and discussion of the fair trade rice they grow. The event is this Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Rice Restaurant at 1608 14th St NW. (Pictured to the left in this photo from their website)

Exactly what is fair trade rice, you ask? With all the fair trade talk mostly about coffee, we hadn’t put much thought to other basic agricultural staples. It turns out that as the result of changing trade policies small-scale rice farmers, like many coffee producers, are finding it harder to make a living. The answer, fair trade rice, is an attempt to cut out the middleman so that more of the money we spend for the end product goes back to the communities of growers. We know the whole concept is still highly contested, but we’re curious to learn more. We’re also hoping to check out the event’s venue – Rice – which we’ve heard mixed reviews about.

If you can’t make the Tuesday event the sponsoring organization’s website lists several events this week in addition to the rice tasting including a brown bag lunch on The Thai-US Free Trade Agreement at Oxfam on Tuesday, and a forum on fair trade at George Washington University on Wednesday evening.