Every Trade A Fair Trade...

If you're like most Americans, you may not stop to think about where things come from or how they're made unless there's a problem. After all, most of us have too much to do and too little time. Still, it's good to stop and take a look at the world around us from time to time. Where things come from is just one question - how they come to land on our table or in our homes is another. How did that shirt or that coffee or that television end up in your home? Chances are good, many of the foods and products you buy have traveled around the world to end up in your hands.

Think about coffee for example. Let's say you buy a bag of French Roast from a local retailer. Let's say it's a 16 oz. package and it sets you back $12.95. One pound for about $13 bucks. A lot of people had a hand in getting that product into your hands - from the retailer to the distributor to the roaster to the grower. Everybody needed to be compensated for their efforts so that $13 has to be shared all the way from grower to retailer.

Coffee is typically grown in developing countries and the Fair Trade movement helps ensure that the folks growing the coffee get a fair deal. That wasn't always the case - and still isn't in places where Fair Trade agreements are not in place. Fair Trade helps farming families lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment and developing business skills to compete in the global marketplace.

Fair trade is not just about price, but price is an important element. That same $13 bucks needs to be split fairly among all the people who are responsible for getting that product to market. Historically, the folks doing the growing were sometimes short changed and the scales were not balanced.

The Fair Trade movement helps to bring things back into balance. It's about fair price, but it's also about fair labor conditions and direct trade (cutting out some of the middlemen along the way). Fair trade also helps to develop communities and supports sustainable agricultural methods. That's why you'll find a lot of Fair Trade products are also organic - if you want to have a sustainable agricultural model, you need to nuture the land you have so it can continue to be fertile and productive for generations to come - organic methods do just that.

October is Fair Trade month and now that you've learned a bit about Fair Trade, you may want to consciously seek out products that are Fair Trade.

Want to learn more? You can visit these sites:
http://www.fairtrademonth.org
http://www.transfairusa.org

Of course, shopOrganic strongly supports the Fair Trade movement and we proudly carry products that are Fair Trade certified.


We can't always control things in the world around us, but each of us can make a difference in small ways that add up. Buying organics is one way, supporting and purchasing Fair Trade products is another.

As I'm fond of saying, consumers vote with their dollars and I hope someday we'll see a landslide victory for organics.

Be well.