Fair Trade

WASHINGTON – Dec. 20, 2021 – Fairtrade America – an independent, third-party certification that partners with farmers and workers to negotiate better prices, decent working conditions, and a fairer deal overall – today released five key consumer trends that will impact how brands source ingredients and work to have a larger impact on people and the planet in 2022. Shoppers are increasingly looking for ethically-sourced products. More than half of respondents to Fairtrade’s biennial Fairtrade Consumer Insights report, conducted by GlobeScan, confirmed they have changed their purchasing choices within the past year to make a difference on economic, social, environmental or Read More

MAFTTI Chair Paul Renshaw attended the 9th International Fair Trade Towns Conference in Bristol, England, July 4-5, 2015. One workshop was devoted to "Resilience, Convergence and Fair Trade". This is a complex trio of concepts, one that needed much more time than the hour allotted. However, here are some notes of a preliminary nature. They contain some material shared by the speakers but also the result of some foraging on the internet in search of greater understanding, even of how a cashew nut grows.

Famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling’s Harvard commencement speech in 2008 has just been published. Some of her thoughts are apt as World Fair Trade Day (May 9) approaches. “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” This speaks to the heart of Fair Trade, a global movement of millions of people – farmers, artisans, consumers – who dream that a world of greater equity, justice and compassion is possible. J.K. Rowling challenged her Harvard audience to cultivate empathy alongside the power of Read More

On March 17, 2015 a presentation on Fair Trade was made in the MSU Social Justice Lecture series. The speakers were Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell, sociologists from the University of Manitoba. Their speaking at MSU was proposed by MAFTTI and facilitated by the Sociology Department and other interested on-campus entitities, both faculty and student-led. The stimulus for the lecture was the publication in 2013 of "Fair Trade, Sustainability and Social Change" (Palgrave Macmillan). Mark Hudson and Mara Fridell shared in co-authoring this book. Notes on the presentation were drafted by Sally Coomes (First Presbyterian Church, Mankato),augmented by Paul Renshaw Read More

Fair World Project has produced a valuable interactive, evaluative chart focusing on six certifications, four of them seen on products in US stores. Click here.