Did you know it’s Fairtrade Fortnight this week and next? Every year at the end of February and beginning of March, the Fairtrade Foundation highlight the importance of supporting farmers and buying Fairtrade by sharing lots of stories about the people who grow our food and drink and grow the cotton for our clothes.
What is Fairtrade?
I always think about coffee when someone mentions Fairtrade or the yin/yang logo but having read up a little bit more on their website here’s a few things I picked up.
Fairtrade is a global movement with a strong presence in the UK by the Fairtrade Foundation. Their mission is to make sure that farmers and producers aren’t exploited and that everyone is getting a fair deal.
There’s quite a lot of products which can be produced to Fairtrade standards, the obvious ones to me were things like coffee, tea and chocolate but there’s also things like herbs and spices and sugar, spreads and oils.
There are over 1.66 million farmers and workers spread across more than 73 countries participating in Fairtrade – that’s a huge number of people benefitting from being treated properly and paid fairly for the products they produce.
How do I know if a product is Fairtrade?
It’s really easy to see if a product is Fairtrade because it will have the distinctive Fairtrade mark on the packaging. We sell loads of different products but here’s just a snapshot.
Coffee – lots of the coffee we sell is Fairtrade including Clipper, Grumpy Mule & Cafe Direct
Tea - Clipper tea is Fairtrade
Chocolate - Divine, Seed & Bean, Vego are all Fairtrade brands
Bananas
Meridian molasses
Sugar
What can I do to support Fairtrade?
Try to buy Fairtrade products where possible, perhaps think about making a swap or two and changing to a brand which is Fairtrade over one which isn’t?
Tell your friends! By sharing some of the positive stories from the Fairtrade Foundation you can share what a positive impact buying Fairtrade products has on the farmers and local communities involved.
Sign up to Choose the World You Want online festival to find out more about the Fairtrade Foundation and the work they do. This is happening this week and next.
And don’t forget if you need any help or advice then please just ask next time you are in the shop.
Happy Fairtrade Shopping!