Fair Trade: News & Updates

The FAIR TRADE CAMPAINGNS just launched their most recent newsletter. 

In it, the Fair Trade Campaign tackles topics like the Fair Trade Finals, a program that sends goodie kits with fair trade products to schools for sales, raffles or other end of semester events. 

November is not only known as the month in which the troubling holiday Thanksgiving takes place, it is also Native American Heritage month. The newsletter provides different possibilities to find information about Native American culture, land and the violent history of Thanksgiving.

Last month the annual international Fair Trade Towns Conference took place. A delegation of the Fair Trade Campaigns was invited to Ecuador, to learn about the lives of producers across the region, and ways to support them. Presenters from all over the globe attended the event to build a network for a more fair future.

Besides these events, the newsletter sheds light on the partner Florecal, a farm that sends high quality fair trade roses across the globe, all while making  the most out of their Community Development Funds and providing infrastructure.

If you are interested in the newsletter, you can subscribe at https://action.fairtradecampaigns.org/ 

Twenty-five years ago, the first Fairtrade bananas appeared on supermarket shelves in Europe, imported by Fairtrade pioneer Agrofair, and grown on Volta River Estates in Ghana, which are still Fairtrade certified today. Since then, the Fairtrade banana sector has grown, as demonstrated by the now over 250 Fairtrade certified banana farms and plantations in 16 countries with more than 36,000 farmers and workers. Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador remained the top 3 largest suppliers of Fairtrade bananas for the United States in 2021. 

Cooperativa Bananera de Rio Frio (COOBAFRIO) is based in Magdalena, Colombia, and has offered Fairtrade certified bananas since 2011. Cooperative members produce around 4,000 tons of bananas a year and now sell two-thirds of that on Fairtrade terms, which include a Minimum Price that accounts for costs of production and an additional Fairtrade Premium of $1.00 a box.

Almost 100% of cooperative members report that their quality of life and economic situation has improved because of Fairtrade certification and that they have greater control over their futures and those of their families. All members said they now have greater freedom in growing their businesses and have received financial services, technical support, and access to fertilizers.

Even though Halloween is past, another holiday season is almost knocking on the door and will push chocolate sales once more. Reason enough to shed light on the crooked dealings of the chocolate industry. 

The chocolate industry has been growing rapidly during the last few years and is expected to become a 180 billion USD industry by 2025. But this immense growth comes at a heavy price for the cocoa farmers and their families in the Global South who work for a minimal income to provide cheap chocolate for us. 

Next to the daily struggle to make ends meet, which drives up to 1.5 million children onto the fields in West Africa and Latin America, this industry poisons its workers.

More and more (small) farms have been giving into the pressure and have started using heavily hazardous pesticides as a means to maximize their yields. 

Due to weak regulations, Africa and South/Central America are lucrative markets for these pesticides, many of which are illegal in the United States and the EU. These bans don't exist without a reason. The pesticides can cause acute poisoning and chronic health issues. 

Especially children, pregnant women and their unborn are endangered by the chemicals. Adding to this is a lack of information about potential hazards which can arise and protective equipment for the workers on the fields. 

You can find more on the dangers of chemical pesticides, exploitation of the chocolate farmers and how you can help in the following article. The article also provides a table rating of different manufacturers and gives examples of fair and organic produced chocolate. 

Fair Trade is so much more then a production standard. Fair Trade is a community effort, which seeks to empower workers from the farm to the store.

It promotes fair and prompt payment, develops transparent and accountable relationships and ensures environmental friendly production.

During the official Fair Trade Month IRTF and  the Fair Trade Certified™ community call for you to support our efforts to build a strong Fair Trade community!

Did you know there are more than 2,000 fair trade producer organizations in more than 70 countries ? Tens of thousands of fair trade products are on the market, including coffee, tea, chocolate, flowers, fruit, vegetables, grains, apparel, artisan handcrafts, and more. Fair trade began with the sale of handcrafts and other artisan goods in the 1940s. The first fair trade coffee company in the US, Equal Exchange (a worker-owned cooperative) was launched in Boston in 1986. IRTF brought their coffee to Cleveland, made it available to faith congregations and grocers. Quickly, NE Ohio became one of the top markets for fair trade coffee in the country. Learn more about fair trade and see the schedule of upcoming fair trade sales, including the annual Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo, at www.OhioFairTrade.com.

The Ohio Fair Trade Network seeks co-sponsors for the annual Ohio Fair Trade Teach-In & Expo 2022.  This in-person event at John Carroll University (with COVID safety protocols) is expected to bring together hundreds of fair trade supporters, advocates, retailers, and vendors from across the state.  The Expo will be an opportunity to continue building energy around the already vibrant Ohio fair trade movement and previous Expos.  In addition to the Global Marketplace of fair trade vendors, we’ll host educational presentations and panels, including a special track for high school students and a passport program for kids.  See www.OhioFairTrade.com 

What do you think when you hear the words “fair trade”? A smiling coffee farmer? A cup shared with friends? Maybe you think of chocolate, or of an artisan bending over a handmade craft. Those are common images of fair trade. But the reality is changing. Other products, including those grown on large-scale farms and plantations, are outpacing traditional fair trade products in market growth. The face of fair trade has changed a lot since I founded Fair World Project 12 years ago. Fair trade certification now is big business. In a new paper, we look at what that shift towards big business means–and how growing corporate consolidation in the food system changes what it means to "look for the label." Because we believe in giving you actionable analysis to take into your lives and your communities, the paper concludes with some recommendations for change - what would it look like to have strong, human-centered certification standards? What kind of better buying practices could grocery stores, colleges and universities, and brands commit to for more fair supply chains?

When you walk down the grocery aisle, you’re bound to see any number of stickers and labels – more every passing year – proclaiming the sustainability, fairness, and transparency of a product. Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions farmworkers in Immokalee get is this:  What’s different about the Fair Food label, anyway?  What makes the Fair Food Program stand out in the field of social responsibility?

Fairtrade America – part of Fairtrade International, the world’s most recognized label for social justice and sustainability – has announced the results of a decade-long study that found farmers who are part of Fairtrade certified Producer Organizations experience better economic resilience, social wellbeing, environmental sustainability and governance of their cooperatives than farmers not in Fairtrade certified organizations, particularly in times of global crisis. 

The Assessing the Impact of Fairtrade on Poverty Reduction and Economic Resilience through Rural Development study, implemented by Mainlevel Consulting, reveals that Fairtrade Standards, Fairtrade pricing and producer support programs positively impact certified farmers and their communities. While the findings outline encouraging evidence of Fairtrade’s benefits, the study also presents the grim reality that farmers’ gains – especially in regards to incomes and farm investments – have been undercut in recent years due to the challenges of COVID-19, climate change, and increasing costs of production. “In times of crisis, it becomes evident that Fairtrade enhances farmers’ economic resilience and supports them in continuing their profession,” said Tatjana Mauthofer, researcher at Mainlevel Consulting and co-author of the study.