Fairtrade food

Fairtrade produce

From small, idealistic beginnings 26 years ago, Fairtrade food has gone from marginal to mainstream. In 2003 there were 150 Fairtrade products. As it became a familiar sight on teas, coffees, bananas and chocolate, the number of foods bearing the best-known ethical label reached 3,000 - from lemons to nut cutlets, South African sparkling wine to Malawian cola. Fairtrade flowers are a blooming business and cotton clothes and footballs sport the logo.

What is Fairtrade?

The Fairtrade mark is an internationally recognised labelling system which in Britain is administered by the Fairtrade Foundation, part of a trade justice movement that would like to see fundamental changes in trading relations between richer and poorer nations. In developing countries, farmers' livelihoods are at the mercy of fluctuating crop prices. The Fairtrade Foundation guarantees farmers a long-term fixed price for their crop, whatever the ups and downs of the world market. The scheme also pays a social premium to be invested in community projects such as healthcare programmes, schools and adult literacy.

If the world market price goes above the Fairtrade minimum, farmers with a fair trade agreement must be paid the higher price, plus the agreed Fairtrade premium. Most Fairtrade-certified farmers and producers sell their crops both on the fair trade market and the conventional market.

Fairtrade and farmers

When you buy Fairtrade goods the farmers will already have been paid for their crop so sales ensure that they will continue to find a market for what they grow. They are also in a better position to invest in improving farms. More than 7.5 million people - farmers, workers and their families - across 59 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.

Shoppers can be sure that the few extra pence they pay for Fairtrade goods really does go to the farmers, unlike charitable donations which can end up paying for administrative costs. Ultimately, Fairtrade supporters hope to effect changes in the way trade with poorer countries is done.

Other ethical labels

There are other 'ethical' labels, such as the US-based conservation charity Rainforest Alliance. On Rainforest Alliance-certified farms, estates and plantations, working and social conditions are improved with the extra money paid for more sustainable tea and coffee production. However, unlike Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance does not work with small-scale farmers, nor does it give producers the security of a guaranteed long-term minimum price.

The Fairtrade model was developed for smaller farmers but is being adapted to provide benefits directly to workers, not via managers, on larger fruit farms, cooperatives and tea plantations in South Africa, Latin America and India. Although foods can be both Fairtrade and Rainforest Alliance certified, in practice it tends to be either one or the other.

Updated July 2009