About Fair Trade - Fair Trade for a Greater Orlando Coalition

Fair prices: Democratically organized farmer groups receive a guaranteed minimum floor price and an additional premium for certified organic products. Farmer organizations are also eligible for pre-harvest credit.

Fair labor conditions: Workers on Fair Trade farms enjoy freedom of association, safe working conditions, and living wages. Forced child labor is strictly prohibited.

Direct trade: Importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to strengthen their organizations and become competitive players in the global economy.

Democratic and transparent organizations: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide democratically how to use their Fair Trade revenues.

Community development: Fair Trade farmers and farm workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, quality improvement trainings, and organic certification.

Environmental sustainability: The Fair Trade certification system strictly prohibits the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), promotes integrated farm management systems that improve soil fertility, and limits the use of harmful agrochemicals in favor of environmentally sustainable farming methods that protect farmers' health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.

Fair trade is growing – and working

"...What was just two decades ago a prophetic alternative espoused by sandal-wearing beardies now has global sales worth more than £1.6bn. Its projects today touch the lives of seven million people, for the better, across the developing world..."

Full story at The Independent (UK), May 24, 2008
eBay to unveil fair-trade marketplace

"Catering to a rising tide of socially-conscious shoppers, eBay this summer plans to help publicly launch WorldofGood.com, a marketplace for buying fair-trade products, according to Robert Chatwani, eBay's general manager of the project."

Full story at CNet, May 20, 2008
Counter Culture Direct Trade Certification

"In an effort to better communicate its fair, sustainability-focused business practices and help coffee lovers make more informed purchasing decisions, Counter Culture Coffee today introduced the specialty coffee industry’s first third-party authenticated direct trade coffee certification."

Full story at Carolina Newswire, May 19, 2008
Coffee with a conscience

"Americus, Georgia’s 'Cafe Campesino' celebrates a decade of cooperation with small-scale farmers."

Full story at Albany Herald, May 2008
Changing the world one purchase at a time

"On May 10, people in 70 countries will mark World Fair Trade Day to highlight the importance and advantages of fair trade. The event will include an attempt to break the record for the world's biggest coffee break, a feat designed mainly to bring more attention to the cause. Participating locally will be the Gifts With Humanity, a fair trade store at 2808 Hibiscus Drive (Units 4 and 5) in Edgewater."

Full story at Daytona Beach News-Journal, April 27, 2008
Fair trade still striving to create an identity

"Despite its more than 60-year history, fair trade is still a relatively new concept for many North Americans. Anne Lally, executive director of the Fair Trade Resource Network in Pennsylvania, says that 'even two years ago, people in North America often mistook fair trade to mean free trade.'"

Full story at Vancouver Sun, April 26, 2008
Fair Trade products increasing in U.S. towns

"Finding a politician with a clean conscious may be harder than finding a Brazilian who is bad at soccer. However, at least six mayors in the U.S. can say they are doing an honest action just by sipping their coffee every morning. They know the coffee they’re drinking comes from a non-exploitative factory and they are helping an underdeveloped country come out of poverty one cup at a time..."

Full story at The Daily O’Collegian, April 21, 2008
Farm aid and fair trade key to food crisis

"Increased aid for agriculture and the abolition of rich-nation subsidies are key to finding a long-term solution to rising world food prices, the head of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development said on Saturday..."

Full story at Reuters, April 19, 2008
We Should Feel Angry - global food crisis is about bad policy, not food shortages

Raj Patel delivers a blistering indictment of the policies of multinational agribusiness conglomerates and charges that their drive for profit at any cost has left the developing world starving while wealthy countries like the United States are experiencing epidemic obesity rates and related health problems. "Those corporations do what all corporations do--they buy cheap and they sell dear. They buy cheap from farmers--and farmers are the poorest people on earth, so when you buy cheap from them, you're reducing the salaries of the world's poorest people." Raj Patel says: "I buy Fair Trade whenever I can. I do that because the alternative is so appalling: unfair trade or people-hostile trade...[but] no Fair Trade label in the world offers...land reform, access to water and access to agricultural technology...There's got to be a better way of making social change happen..."

Full story at Newsweek, April 17, 2008
Image Source Partners Fair Trade Photo Collection

"Image Source, the world's leading independent producer of royalty free stock photography, has announced a partnership with World Portraits, the innovative, fair trade photo collection that directly benefits the people photographed. The uniqueness of World Portraits is that every time a photo is sold, the sitter receives a royalty and shares in the profits. Most of the sitters are in developing nations and receive their money via microbanking facilities or as a cheque..."

Full story in Designer Today, April 1, 2008
Saab to launch ecological clothing collection

Saab is joining forces with another Scandinavian, design-driven company to launch an ecological clothing collection based on 100% bio-cotton and Fair Trade.

Full story at Fibre2Fashion.com, March 21, 2008
Businesses at home on the fringe

"...Many thought the area's commercial revival hinged on the mayor's $40-million Riverwalk or the $500-million housing development along the Hillsborough River. But none of that has taken shape yet. Instead, this is how the area is coming to life: organic, fair trade coffee and tea, open-mike nights, vegan shakes, gay karaoke, book clubs, raw food, acupuncture, art...

Full story in the St. Petersburg Times, March 14, 2008
This Way to Organic Dining

Dandelion Communitea Cafe, a local organic and fair trade tea house was featured in the February 2008 edition of Central Florida Lifestyle magazine.

Full story at CentralFlorida-Lifestyle.com, February 2008
Fair trade confronts poverty, empowers people

"'Fair trade is a way to confront poverty and a way to help empower people – both producers and consumers,' said Jacqueline DeCarlo of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) at Westminster College Feb. 12..."

Full story at Intermountain Catholic News, March 3, 2008
First Labeled 'Carbon Subtracting' Products Announced

"...Since 1997 California-based Guayaki has been importing yerba mate, sourced from small family farms in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The company pays fair trade prices that are typically more than double market rates..."

Full story at The Daily Green, February 29, 2008
'Fair Trade' consumerism in South Korea

"Kang Yu-mi, a 29-year-old worker at a dental clinic in Seoul, enjoys a cup of coffee everyday at her office. Unlike many other women her age, she does not consume upscale brand-name coffee. Instead, she drops by Beautiful Store from time to time to get 'A Gift from the Himalayas'"...

Full story at The Korea Times, February 24, 2008
Teen’s coffee and chocolate sales raise awareness, help Third World growers

"When you drink a cup of coffee, you can make a difference. That’s the message that Maria Louzon, a 16-year-old parishioner at Church of the Resurrection, Ellicott City, is trying to impart, even though she’s not a coffee drinker".

Full story at Catholic Online, February 21, 2008
Columbia Gem House Fair Trade Gems

"While people in general seems to be fairly aware of fair trade as it relates to coffee, chocolate and other foodstuffs, fair trade gems have been slower to catch on.

Full story at Luxist.com, February 19, 2008
Wisconsin Put Trade on the Agenda

"...As the Wisconsin campaign wound down, both Clinton and Obama provided the most detailed responses yet to questions about precisely where they stand on the federal government's approach to trade. The questions came from Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition, a network of labor, farm and environmental groups that pressured the candidates to get specific about how they would change trade policies..."

Full story at The Nation, February 19, 2008
Ecuador: Flower Power (Fair trade roses for Valentine's Day)

"Over the past 10 years, the fair trade model has transformed the coffee industry across much of Latin America. And while fair-trade-certified flowers have been available in Europe for more than a decade, consumer demand in the United States has not pushed flower growers to comply with fair labor practices or to produce a sustainable rose. But Michael Conroy, board chairman of TransFair USA, a fair-trade-certifying agency for the U.S., believes this is about to change."

Watch video at PBS
Cotton production becomes the next big issue for the rag trade

"If you think your underwear is clean, activists at London Fashion Week might beg to differ...'It's really simple - people die to make our clothes when we make things that are not fair trade,' Smith said. 'I think if people really understood the reality they'd probably say, 'I'd rather be naked' than wear something that someone had to die to produce.'"

Full story at The Canadian Press, February 14, 2008
Atlanta Students Brainstorm New Campus Menus

"Students hoping to make Emory University’s dining options more sustainable met at a summit on Thursday and Saturday to create recommendations for the University...Participants emphasized the importance of purchasing foods that are local, hormone-free and antibiotic-free. They also emphasized Fair Trade, a social movement that promotes fair pricing as well as social and economic standards on exports from developing to developed countries..."

Full story at EmoryWheel.com, February 11, 2008
Steer clear of goods that spell child labor

"For years American consumers have faced the challenge of recognizing and avoiding goods manufactured by child laborers, estimated to number 218 million by the U.N.'s International Labor Organization. But having penetrated key industries such as apparel and agriculture, the offending merchandise is not always easy to reject..."

Full story at MarketWatch.com, February 11, 2008
Gift shop answers to higher calling

"Open since March, He She and Me has grown from a denim studio to a Christian clothing and gift shop with a higher purpose: 50 percent of profits are donated to missionary work. The store recently partnered with One Thousand Villages to carry fair trade items made by artisans in Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe. Fair trade gives the artisans a fair wage and gives them a means to support themselves. The store is tucked away in the back of Royal Gulf Plaza at 2701 Cleveland Ave., across from Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers. Call (941) 769-6905. Shop hours are Monday through Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m..."

Full story at The News-Press (Fort Myers, FL), February 2, 2008
Fair Trade certification spreads to cosmetics

"Shea butter has become the first cosmetic ingredient to be certified as Fair Trade in Canada but others are likely to follow as ethical consumerism catches on..."

Full story at CosmeticsDesign.com, January 31, 2008
Chicago Public Radio features SAFRA Fair Trade jewelry

Chicago Public Radio's "Worldview" program talks with Eve Bratman and Dara Hoppe about SAFRA, a Brazilian women's workshop making Fair Trade jewelry using seeds gathered from the Brazilian rainforest. SAFRA jewelry can be purchased at their website.

Chicago Public Radio "Worldview" program, aired January 24, 2008 (click here for podcast)
High school students use art to boost fair trade

"Fifteen freshmen, sophomores and home-schooled students partnered with the Fair Trade Federation for their Community Problem Solving Project.
Project ART: Artisans Respected Through Trade, is the brainchild of this group of students in which the group purchases pieces of fine art and sells them. Profits are paid to the artisans who created them.
A Fair Trade Store is being opened in the media center's Cafe area, where goods may be purchased by the student body, faculty and staff.
The Flagler County Art and Entertainment Foundation has invited this group to participate in the Art in the Park Festival."(full text)

Daytona Beach News-Journal, January 23, 2008, p. A8.
Eco-friendly B&B sits amid deer herd

"The designation is awarded to environmentally conscious lodgings by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. On a secluded, tree-shaded Atlantic Ocean beach, close to two protected wildlife preserves, Deer Run is managed to reflect the innkeepers' earth-friendly mind-set...
Home-baked breads and fruits are predominantly organic and sourced locally, and the kitchen serves only organic fair trade coffee and tea..."

Full story at Palm Beach Post, January 13, 2008
Guyana Caribbean Community forms trade panel

"GEORGETOWN -- The Caribbean Community economic bloc will launch a panel to oversee trade and consumer issues in the region early next year, officials with the regional group said Thursday. Surinamese President Ronald Venetiaan will direct the new commission, which is meant to regulate fair trade, monitor consumer welfare and resolve disputes, according to a statement from the Caribbean Community." (full text)

Miami Herald, December 28, 2007, p. A11.