Posted in Uncategorized on March 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »
I wanted to repost something that Carol Schachet, Director of Development and Communications, at Grassroots International wrote earlier this year about the important role that small farmers play in “… feeding the world, counteracting greenhouse gas emissions and other environmentally toxic poisons, conserving water and biodiversity and expanding social and economic justice.” Click here to read this interesting piece about small farmers, Via Campesina, and our food system.
Posted in Uncategorized on March 21, 2014| Leave a Comment »
People often confuse the terms. They sound so similar. Free and Fair. To the uninformed, they even seem to go hand in hand.
Yet, no two concepts could be further apart in terms of what each represents as an idea and what impact each has on small farmers, workers, consumers, local communities, the environment, and so much more.
If you’ve ever found yourself confused about the terms, click here to watch a short video created by our friends at Fair World Project. In a clear and compelling way, the video demonstrates how current free trade agreements harm small farmers and workers in both the global north and south and then explains the dramatically different approach behind Fair Trade. The video ends with concrete ways in which you can support Fair Trade brands and policies that place people before profits.
At the end of the day, because free trade and fair trade are in such stark opposition to each other, with the former placing the needs and interests of corporations first and the latter focusing on people and the environment, it is important that we all act with our dollars and our votes to ensure the kind of world we all envision to be possible.
BUY FAIR! VOTE FAIR!
Posted in Uncategorized on March 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Posted in Uncategorized on March 17, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Equal Exchange’s Banana Conference:
The Future of Authentic Fairtrade Bananas
March 21st, 22nd, and 23rd 2014
Boston, Massachusetts (more…)
Posted in Fair Trade, small farmer co-operatives, small farmers, fair trade, food security, food sovereig, Uncategorized, tagged Fair Trade, Food security, small farmer co-operatives on March 13, 2014| 1 Comment »
A brief stop on our way back from a meeting with one of the women’s groups organized through FTAK, somewhere between the towns of Kudiyanmala and Vellad.
Fair Trade Alliance of Kerala, (FTAK) a 4500-member co-operative of small farmers in southern India, has created an exciting initiative to articulate and put into practice what most fair trade farmer co-operatives understand empirically. Fair Trade is important but it’s simply not enough. It’s a starting point; a means to an end; certainly not the end itself. Like kicking off the day with a well-balanced breakfast, selling cash crops on fair trade terms is a foundation from which so much else becomes more possible. But, like the role that a healthy breakfast plays in someone’s day, it is what comes afterwards that brings true community empowerment, development, and social change. (more…)
Posted in Fair Trade, Uncategorized, tagged Fair Trade on March 5, 2014| 1 Comment »
… and having trouble navigating the waters?
Many thanks to Fair World Project for their easy-to-use, interactive, fun tool to help you distinguish between seven different certification schemes.
Meets FWP’s expectations and/or is a model program in this area.
Acceptable policy that at least meets current industry standards, but there is room for improvement.
Problem area/red flag that needs immediate improvement.
Click here to see how seven certification schemes measure up to a list of “fair” criteria and then see which brands use the different certification labels on their products.
Posted in Uncategorized on March 4, 2014| 2 Comments »
TransFair/Fair Trade USA walking away with the fruits of 25 years of the movement’s collective labor, to the detriment of small farmers & consumers.
If you are new to Fair Trade, or quite understandably, are just still confused about what the big fuss is when people talk about the Fair Trade controversy, the “split in the movement”, or the betrayal of small coffee farmers, this very brief, compelling, an easy-to-follow article by Nicki Lisa Cole and Keith Brown should help clear away the clouds. Cole and Brown “interviewed fair trade store owners, coffeehouse managers and baristas, importers and exporters, coffee industry consultants, cooperative and movement leaders, farmers, artisans, and consumers,” and combine this with their own research and analysis to provide their account of what went wrong when Transfair USA (now Fair Trade USA) left the international Fair Trade system and begin certifying plantation coffee.
Sadly, the actions of Fair Trade USA now make it necessary for informed consumers to think twice when they take a Fair Trade certified product off the grocery shelf: Does this product support democratic small farmer organizations or large multinational companies & plantation owners?
Let us know what you think.
By Nicki Lisa Cole & Keith Brown
Many people purchase fair trade certified products because they trust that doing so makes a difference in the lives of small producers around the world. Sociologists Nicki Lisa Cole and Keith Brown discuss how changes to certification policy have modified the meaning of fair trade in a way that has troubling implications for small coffee farmers.
Cartoon courtesy of John Klossner. Copywrite 2012.
Posted in Uncategorized on March 3, 2014| Leave a Comment »
Take Action!
The Fair Minimum Wage Act, a bill that would raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016 and raise the wage for tipped workers as well, is in jeopardy. Studies have shown that raising the minimum wage to this level will benefit 29 million while costing the average family just a dime a day.
Despite overwhelming public support for this legislation, Speaker of the House John Boehner has made it clear he will not put the bill up for a vote. In response, House Democrats filed a Discharge Petition that would force a vote. The petition needs the signatures of 218 Representatives.
Please take a moment to support workers and families! Click here to send a note to your Representative, asking that s/he sign the Discharge Petition on the Fair Minimum Wage Act.
Learn about the history of Authentic Fair Trade
Small Farmers. Big Change. 