I’m on vacation this week! So it might be quiet on the blog, but I wanted to leave you all with this question: do you think the goals of the Buy Local movement and the Fair Trade movement are more compatible than they are contradictory?
Underneath the slogans and the sound bytes, it seems to me that the goals are about supporting small farmers, sustainable agriculture, local economies, community control, human connections, direct relationships, and a healthy planet.
If that’s so, let’s see those commonalities and work together to build a more transparent, just and democratic food system!
Small Farmers. Big Change. 
Fair Trade and Local movements certainly can be complementary in creating a more “co-operative” economy, in my opinion- and I agree with what Phyllis describes as the underlying principals. just 3 more reasons why I can see local and FT working together:
1) There is still plently of market that neither groups have reached- just look at all the corporate coffee mammoths still out there.
2) Even when there is an overlap, for example, say you have 2 FT coffee roasters, then fill in each other’s gaps in terms of product.
3) Local and FTers can encourage each other to have high FT and quality standards, which is good for all involved.
Working together certianly creates a stronger voice and thus more potential to actually change how trade is done, and in creating a more communal and collaborative economy.
Yes! We purchase our ingredients from local, small scale farmers, and one ingredient that can’t be grown here from farmers in Belize, and that ingredient is about to officially be FTC. Working directly with farmers here and abroad is the most satisfying part of my job, seeing the direct impact our purchasing has on their lives.
Fair Trade doesn’t just mean international. Fair Trade is for all farmers and producers 🙂 I love it!
Yep Chris a fair price for all agricultural products produced in a sutainable way.
And as I can’t grow coffee, tea, sugar or cocoa here in the Languedoc I will continue to support fairtrade producers at least 5 times a day.