All About Fair Trade in october

​Fair Trade is celebrated in October and is a time to recognize efforts of consumers, businesses, and advocates in supporting Fair Trade. Fair Trade is a model of trade that aims to be based on partnership and collaboration, rather than exploitation. 

Fair Trade is a certification of environmental, economic, and social responsibility. If you see the Fair Trade Certified label on a product, it means that the product was manufactured in line with strict standards that involve safe working conditions, child or forced labor. 

Choosing Fair Trade is more than buying and selling products, more than being a business partner, an advocate, or farmer. When we choose Fairtrade, we participate in a vision for a better world — a world where farmers and workers have an equal seat at the table. We become part of a movement for change that makes a difference. We embody Fairtrade's values of equality, dignity, and respect. Together we can be Fairtrade. 

The Fairtrade certification system covers a growing range of products, including bananas, honey coffee, oranges, cocoa bean, cocoa, cotton, dried and fresh fruits and vegetables, juices, nuts and oil seeds, quinoa, rice, spices, sugar, tea and wine. 

Explore the Issues Fairtrade Addresses

Poverty 
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A decent standard of living — one that covers basic needs and supports an existence worthy of human dignity — is a human right. And yet. many farmers and workers live on less than $2 per day and depend on a single source of income from a cash crop. On top of that, farmers typically just get on paycheck per year—after the harvest. This means that they have to stretch this one payment for all business and household needs like transportation, food, clothing, and school fees for the entire year. It leaves little room for unexpected expenses like mitigating the effects of climate change. 
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Not only is this an injustice, it is also unsustainable. Without farmers and workers in the Global South, we would not have things we rely on in our daily lives like coffee, bananas, and tea. 

Child Labor Rights and Safety 
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Child labor is work that is harmful to a child's health and wellbeing. and/or interferes with their education, leisure and development. This complex issue affects children all over the world— especially in agriculture. 
Child labor stops young people from being able to go to school, play with their friends and get the nutrition they need. The grim reality is that many of these children spend their childhood in dangerous or harmful conditions like hazardous environments, slavery and trafficking, or forced labor. The rates are alarming, but because this is so difficult to track, it is believed they could be much higher. 
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Child labor caused by many things. Limited access to quality education, natural disasters, conflict, and discrimination are just a few. However, poverty is a key driver in this injustice. When families can't earn a decent living from their crops and youth lack decent employment opportunities, ending child labor remains very difficult. 

Workers' Rights

Workers—people working on large farms or in factories that do not own the business—face incredible adversity in the Global South.

At best, most workers lack formal contracts, freedom of association and basic health and safety precautions. This is compounded by earning low wages. Some are vulnerable to the other abuses such as human trafficking or debt bondage. 
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Even employers with good intentions can find that they don't earn enough to pay a living wage or invest in better equipment or safer working conditions. Trade is neither just nor sustainable without prioritizing workers' rights. 

Gender Inequality 

Around the world, women are not treated equitably. This looks different from country to country and region to region, but the root problem is the same. Thought women make up the majority of people producing food, they rarely receive their share of the benefits of their hard labor. Women in agricultural communities where we work often:

• Don't have control of the money they earn
• Don't own land or crops
• Don't have access to education, training, supplies
• Are discriminated against when applying for credit

Climate Change 

For farmers and workers in countries with low GDP—Gross Domestic Product— climate change is not far-off challenge. It is their everyday life. They are already experiencing decreasing crop yields, soil erosion, pests, diseases and changing weather patterns. This changing reality affects farmers and their communities directly in the form of:

• Income loss
• Food insecurity 
• The need to change their business models
• Increased costs for adaption and mitigation

Climate studies predict that by 2050 coffee, tea, cocoa and cotton will be so severely affected that production in some areas will even disappear. While it may be easy to think that you can live without some of these products, that would be ignoring the millions of farmers and workers who depend on international trade and these crops in particular to survive. 

To find out more about these issues and how Fairtrade helps address them check out their website.

Agriculture is the single largest source of revenue globally, and Fairtrade supports a fair deal for the farmers and workers who grow our food. 
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So come shop our Fairtrade Certified selections at The Whole Wheatery! Just look for the label and you'll be taking part in the Fairtrade movement.