Fairtrade certification, like organic certification, informs you about a product’s origin. Products certified as fair trade come worldwide, yet they all have a common heritage. Farmers who grow fairtrade earn a reasonable price and benefit their community and environment.
Through reasonable rates, community engagement, and environmental care, good price certified coffee helps support a better life for farming families in developing countries. Fairtrade coffee growers learn how to manage their companies and compete in a global economy by marketing their harvests via direct, long term deals with international purchasers. Receiving a reasonable price for the crop enables these farmers to engage in the health and education of their families and reinvest into the quality and preserve the environment. This empowerment strategy lifts farming households out of poverty through trade rather than aid, resulting in a more sustainable and equitable international trading model that benefits farmers, consumers, industry, and the environment.
It’s delicious.
Do you believe that to be fair, you must sacrifice quality? Reconsider your position! Four of the top ten coffees in a competition in Kenya last year were Fairtrade certified. Fairtrade coffee is certified organic in more than half of the cases. Fairtrade’s regional producer networks are training farmers on how to improve its quality while also marketing it profitably.
The Fairtrade Standards include better terms of trade.
In uncertain markets, price is simply one tactic used to help farmers. Based on our experience, companies and traders should adopt practices such as disclosing sourcing strategies, implementing appropriate payment terms, and easing access to pre-harvest finance. The Fairtrade Trader Standard needs these things to establish long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between producers and buyers, allowing producers to prepare for the future and create strategic investments.
Climate change affects coffee, and Fairtrade helps farmers adapt.
Your daily cup of coffee becomes a distant memory if significant climate action is not taken. According to research, the area ideal for growing coffee might be cut in half in a few decades. Wild coffee may become extinct by 2080. Cooperatives can use the Fairtrade Premium to invest in adapting to climate change, such as planting drought- and disease-resistant bushes. To combat climate change, Fairtrade collaborates with corporate sponsors and donors.
The Fair for Health label ensures the following:
Fair price: Farm owners receive reasonable rates for their harvests and premiums designated for community development initiatives; certified organic products earn even larger bonuses. Pre-harvest finance is also available to farmer organisations.
Environmental sustainability: Hazardous agrochemicals and genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are prohibited, favouring environmentally sustainable agricultural methods that safeguard farmers’ health and conserve ecosystems for coming generations. Intercropping species of plants to boost soil fertility and defend against erosion helps fair trade farmers protect the land and wildlife habitat. Environmental care is further encouraged by strict ecological management programmes such as water conservation, efficient trash disposal, and limitations on planting within protected areas.
Good labour treatment: Workers at fair trade farms have the freedom to associate, work in safe circumstances, and earn a reasonable salary. Forced labour of children is strictly prohibited.
Direct trade: Importers buy directly from fairtrade certified producer groups, cutting out extra intermediaries and allowing farmers to build the economic capability to compete with their competitors.
Organisations that are democratic and transparent: Fairtrade producers and farm workers choose how to invest fairtrade certified income, and democratic proof is necessary.
Fairtrade premiums are invested in social and commercial development projects such as scholarship programmes, healthcare services, and performance improvement training by fair trade farmers.