As Martin Luther King quite rightly said: “Before you’ve finished your breakfast this morning, you’ll have relied on half the world.” That breakfast is slightly harder to stomach when you consider that those you have relied on are being exploited by the unfair balance of trade in favour of the developed countries.

What is Fair Trade?

Fair Trade is a growing, international movement, which ensures that producers in poor countries get a fair deal. A fair deal means: a fair price for their goods (one that covers the cost of production and guarantees a living income), long-term contracts which provide real security; and for many, support to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to develop their businesses and increase sales.

The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label, which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting this better deal.

For a product to display the FAIRTRADE Mark, it must meet international Fairtrade standards. The international certification body - Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) - sets these standards.

Producer organisations that supply Fairtrade products are inspected and certified by FLO. They receive a minimum price that covers the cost of sustainable production and an extra premium that is invested in social or economic development projects.

The Fairtrade Foundation licenses the FAIRTRADE Mark to products in the UK, which meet FLO standards. The supplier (brand-owner or main national distributor) must sign the Foundation’s Licence Agreement, which provides a licence to use the Mark.

It’s been a long journey

Development agencies recognised the potentially powerful role that consumers could play in improving the situation for producers. By buying direct from farmers at a better price and then marketing their produce directly through their own ‘one-world’ shops and catalogues, the charities offered consumers the opportunity to buy products bought on the basis of fair trade. The end user could now vote with their wallets against the outrageous economic mistreatment of the developing world.

Fairtrade Labelling was actually created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico.

In March 1994, the FAIRTRADE mark was launched on its first ever product in the UK, Green & Black’s Maya Gold organic chocolate. The first tea (Clipper Fairtrade tea) and first coffees (Cafédirect roast & ground and freeze dried, instant coffee) took the Fairtrade mark later in the year.

In January of 1997 Fairtrade coffee became widely available to the catering trade and a campaign was launched to target restaurants and institutions.

By 2006 over 1500 Fairtrade retail and catering products were available in the UK; evidence that the movement that was initially perceived as quite hippy had well and truly become mainstream.

It really does change lives

Sivapackiam is a tea picker in Sri Lanka. Aged 38, she is married with four children and is 38 years old. Sivapackiam is the women’s leader on the Fairtrade registered estate where she works. “Before we were very afraid to talk to the manager - especially we women. We’d run into the fields when a manager was coming.” Now however, she discusses issues such as training of the tea pickers with the management. She believes that workers need the opportunity for self-development, and an improved salary. “I think we are making a difference,” she told the Fairtrade organization.

Sivapackiam has been picking tea on the same estate for 23 years. Her mother and grandmother did the same job before her, and it’s a hard life. “Our biggest problem is that we have too much to do. In the morning we prepare meals and get the children to school. We have no time even to eat. I have to work very fast, so I get very hungry. We have to carry 10-15 kilos of tea to the weighing place, which can be three quarters of a kilometre away. After work it is the same - we have to do all the cooking and collecting firewood and getting water.” She takes home the equivalent of 80 pence a day. “We eat rice and one vegetable. We would like to have two or three vegetables but we cannot afford it. Towards the end of every month we find it difficult.”

All workers on tea estates that supply the Fairtrade market have a workers’ organisation to represent their interests. In Sivapackiam’s case, she represents her fellow workers on a ‘Joint Body’, which decides the use of the Fairtrade premium. She gives an example of the difference this can make: “A year ago, we didn’t have any electricity in our houses. All the members of the Joint Body got together and discussed how we could pay to install it. Some money came from the Fairtrade premium and we each took out a loan. With electricity, my children can study at night. In the morning I can iron their clothes and we can use a hot plate for cooking. I am happy that Fairtrade helps me support my family.” (www.fairtrade.org.uk)

We can never be happy about the unfair distribution of wealth in the world and the poor quality of life it brings with it for many, but at least through the sale of Fairtrade products we can take some steps towards improving the situation.

“If a few companies were less greedy, the people at the bottom would have a lot more. We can do our bit by pressuring politicians to change this insanity, and by buying fair trade Coffee,” said Chris Martin of Coldplay during the now well-documented coffee crisis. From coffee to cocoa, fresh fruit and juice to flowers, needless to say this extends to all products produced in developing countries.

Café Direct

There are a number of companies out there actively supporting Fairtrade - Café Direct is one of them. I asked Louise Whitaker, trade marketing manager for the Out of Home team, to tell me why the company was so passionate about Fairtrade.

“Cafédirect pioneered Fairtrade coffee in the UK 16 years ago and since then has become the beacon Fairtrade hot drinks brand. Cafédirect has a unique trading model; it doesn’t just buy from growers in the developing world, it works in partnership with them. Cafédirect always pays its growers a premium on top of the world market price, or minimum Fairtrade price - whichever is the higher. Cafédirect also reinvests an average of 60% of its profits back into training and development programmes, to help its grower partners build sustainable businesses. This way of working enables consumers and the trade to engage directly with the growers through the brand, and see the difference that can be made to their lives.

“Cafédirect is proud of the unique relationships we have with our grower partners. In the last five years Cafédirect has paid £10m above market prices to help growers take control of their lives. For many companies Fairtrade is the maximum standard but for Cafédirect it’s the minimum. Vendors demand a strong quality product with recognised branding, and the close partnership we have with our grower partners is reflected in the quality of our hot drinks. Consumers can enjoy our drinks and rest assured that they’re also helping to improve the quality of life for growers and their communities.”

For enquiries about stocking Cafédirect please call 0207 490 9520, and ask to speak to a member of the ‘Out of Home’ team. www.cafedirect.co.uk

Fairtrade Vending

Fairtrade Vending claims to be the first company in the vending industry to have produced In-Cup Fairtrade drinks. It has also developed a range of hot drink machines, which clearly make a statement about fair trade and are designed to only offer 100% Fairtrade products.

Says the company on its website: “Fairtrade Vending are dedicated to supporting fair trade and all the organisations that with them are helping to provide a long-term solution to the problem of unfair competition of big business and developing a better future for themselves and their communities.”

Fairtrade Vending has nine beverage machines including its two new machines; the Mini Cup Flex and the Style 5 hot drinks machines.

Choose from Refresh 700, Refresh 1400, Geneva Fresh Brew, the Encore, Neva Bean to Cup, Neva 3 ultra compact design, Neva 5 Instant and Fresh Brew Tea models - available with payment acceptor; and the Mini Cup Flex and the Style 5 hot drinks machines.

The company welcomes buyers to visit its show rooms to view and taste its full range of drinks and snacks.

www.fairtradevending.co.uk

Aimia

A major player in the vending market, Aimia supplies ingredients across four key product sectors - Traditional, Incup, Soft Drinks and Table Top Vending.

Aimia are distributors for BUENDIA, The Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia’s (FNC) global coffee brand, which is grown, picked, freeze dried and packed at the FNC’s own dedicated site in Chinchina, Colombia, to ensure maximum profits are returned to the growers and their families.

The FNC, formed in 1927, guarantees a fair price for growers and farmers – or Cafeteros – and ensures money is given back directly to the Colombian villages and towns which produce the coffee beans. Owned and controlled by more than 500,000 coffee farmers, the FNC uses the profits from coffee sales to help provide a sustainable income for families and communities. The programme has had a tangible impact on the transport infrastructure, schools and health centres, and continues to make a real difference to the lives of millions of people in Colombia.

Also available from Aimia are Percol Fairtrade Coffee and Teas, in addition to a whole host of other, non-fairtrade snacks and beverages.

www.aimiafoods.com

FFI

FFI has been manufacturing Fairtrade certified coffee for the last 15 years and is fully committed to supporting coffee growing communities. FFI has developed a partnership with Save the Children to support their education initiative. This is a long-term collaboration that FFI believes is the type of support consumers want to see from responsible and socially aware companies.

FAIR INSTANT, a new high quality Fairtrade Instant Coffee from FFI, gives coffee growers a better deal enabling them to invest for the future.

www.fair-instant.co.uk

Kraft

I asked Jonathan P. Atwood, senior director, Global Issues Management, what Kraft Food’s stance was on ethical and fairtrade product. He said: “First, I would draw your attention to our Kenco Sustainable Development coffee in the UK. It is a wonderful product and the coffee beans are from farms that have been certified by the Rainforest Alliance (RA). We are also quite proud of our partnership with McDonald’s across Europe as they are now serving our Kenco RA certified coffee.

In terms of Kraft’s stance on Ethical products, I would sum it up this way: “Our hope is that, over time, consumer interest in sustainable coffee will continue to build. For the past several years, we have been launching sustainable offerings to complement our well loved brand portfolio by putting high quality, environmentally friendly, and equitable coffee within easy reach of mainstream consumers. We realise that consumers increasingly want to know more about their coffee - for instance, where it’s been grown and under what conditions. We are proud that our partnership with the Rainforest Alliance has delivered so many benefits to coffee farmers, their families and their communities.”

www.kraft.com

Mars

Still a privately owned, family run company Mars is another that, though not producing products to the Fairtrade Mark standard, claims to behave ethically towards its employees and associates. “Most companies claim to be ethical. Few extend those ethics beyond the minimal corporate boundaries of being seen to ‘do the right thing’. At Mars, honesty is a value that affects everything we do. We treat our suppliers the same way we treat ourselves. No deal is fair unless everyone benefits. Mars associates are trusted and maintain high standards.” Though nobody was available for comment at Mars, it would seem that the company does indeed take its responsibilities towards developing countries quite seriously - and it’s openly critical of those companies that claim to do so as a marketing strategy.

www.mars.com

Lavazza

Lavazza’s ¡Tierra! sustainable coffee, is blended from beans grown in selected plantations in Honduras, Columbia and Peru. It is a 100 per cent Arabica blend, which is full bodied with a floral aroma.

Lavazza has recently announced that ¡Tierra!, already successful in the in home and retail sectors, is now available as a capsule coffee for its ‘Espresso Point’ machines.

The move to launch ¡Tierra! for its ‘Espresso Point’ machines makes perfect sense to Silvio Zaccareo, Lavazza’s OCS and Vending Sales and Marketing Manager. Zaccareo said: “Having sold over 22.5 tonnes of ¡Tierra! in the away from home sector last year clearly demonstrates food service outlets are choosing sustainable coffee in response to increased consumer demand for ethical products. This makes the introduction of ¡Tierra! to ‘Espresso Point’, the machines dedicated to office workers, the next logical step.”

Lavazza’s ‘Espresso Point’ machines include the EP 2302, an ideal coffee maker for offices and businesses, the EP 2400 Cappuccinatore, a cappuccino maker that has a purpose built steamer for frothing milk and the Matinee. All are ideal for small offices and shops thanks to their compact size and extraordinarily userfriendly design.

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