Fair for Life Social & Fair Trade Certification includes high transparency, social responsibility audits, requirements for good environmental performance, and the ability to combine Fair Trade certification with other programs, such as organic certification, for all major world markets.
Discovery Islands Organics is an organic and Fair Trade importer and distributor for fresh produce. They carry several product lines, such as bananas from Peru, and avocados and mangos from Mexico, that are certified, and now also blueberries, apples and pears that are Fair for Life Fair Trade Certified. Discovery Islands Organics´ ethnical sourcing policy is to buy local and direct, first and foremost, and they also work primarily with grower cooperatives for the majority of their product sourcing. They help to educate their growers on fair trade, and have supported the implementation of fair trade certified systems with their growers.
: We are happy to see a pioneer in the Northwestern and Canadian organic movements embrace fair trade among its sourcing practices and company policy,! said Wolfgang Kathe, department manager for social and fairtrade at IMO.: The combination of organic and fair trade, both domestically and internationally are important in promoting sustainability through trade.!
ANAHEIM, Calif. As the economy begins to slowly recover, the produce industry faces a radically different business environment where consumers have less loyalty and are concerned about sustainability.
Dawn Withers
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, speaks about the future of the produce industry during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3.
Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, said during his annual outlook presentation at Fresh Summit on Oct. 3 that while consumers are looking to get more value for their produce purchases and are spending less, they want to connect to the items they buy and the companies that grow them.
: Getting back to basics is about supporting the community,! Silbermann said.
In the new economy, Silbermann said consumers are concerned about the ethics behind the produce they buy, whether workers are paid well or how the produce is grown, and feel they are bettering their communities through locally sourced produce.
: It´s a fundamental shift in how some people view their place in the world,! Silbermann said.
In the rich soils of Tucumán, interrupcion* fair trade blueberries soak in warm sun while surrounded by the high Andes mountains and sugarcane fields. Berries del Aconquija S. A. & Berries del NOA are farms founded by Francisco and Pablo, two entrepreneurs that made social responsibility and sustainability their guiding principles. Back in 2005, when they were writing their business plan they contacted interrupcion* to help them to measure and maximize their social and environmental impact. We worked with them to identify their communities and their needs. At that time, they built strong ties with the local organizations giving them support and guidance in understanding of the main issues facing the community. As soon as both companies were formed and the farms went into production, Pablo and Fran decided to certify their operations with Nature´s Choice Certification and Global Gap Certification. Both certifications guarantee safe labor conditions, monitor and regulate environmental impact and establish guidelines for good relationships with workers.
One of the first projects implemented was to invite local bank representatives to the farm to help permanent and temporary workers open their own savings accounts, so they can manage their money safely and take the first steps toward establishing credit. They then realized that some local labor contractors were using false registrations to avoid paying the national minimum wage to temporary workers. In response, Pablo and Fran rewrote their agreement with labor contractors to guarantee proof of payment for each temporary worker and installed a fingerprint scanner on the farm to ensure that those working on the farm are getting paid.
In 2007, interrupcion* started the fair trade certification program and Pablo and Fran were enthusiastic about getting involved and working towards fair trade certification.
The good relationships that they had cultivated with workers, their genuine concern for labor & social issues, and their well defined and documented processes helped them to obtain Fair Trade certification. As time went by, sales of Fair Trade berries made the social Premium fund grow and the workers showed a serious commitment to their communities, eager to create positive social change. In this rural and poor area. Workers decided to invest some premium money to solve urgent problems that their community was facing: a lack of shoes for the children of the community school, a necessary but expensive surgery for a very ill child, and the purchase of a specialized wheel chair for a severely handicapped child.In addition, as Pablo, Fran, and interrupcion* taught during assemblies, workers need to be organized to create an institution governed by themselves to address the most important issues that they face as a community. From this awareness came the decision to create an independent branch of Asociación Civil Interrupción* in Tucumán to provide goods and services for all the workers and their communities, goods and services often basic but difficult to obtain. Two main projects are being evaluated by the workers and Asociación Civil Interrupción:
- The creation of a community bakery to provide affordable and healthy bread
- The creation of a community factory to produce bricks and provide affordable materials for housing and small construction projects in the community.
Fran and Pablo are supporting these projects on their farms through a commitment to Fair Trade practices and are advising and assisting workers by providing the tools and freedom necessary to create make them a reality. Asociación Civil Interrupción is working closely with the workers committee to bring their projects to life and to continue to define and implement projects that can harness the benefits of Fair Trade in this community.
As a nonpartisan coalition of Fair Trade organizations, vendors, and consumers, we cordially invite you to help extend the fair trade movement by declaring the White House a: Fair Trade Home.!
For more than sixty years, the Fair Trade movement has strived to create social and economic opportunities for the world´s poorest communities. As you know well, it is the poor who most acutely feel the effects of economic turbulence, climate change, and isolation. Fair Trade combats these issues.
As you may be aware, the movement toward ethical and sustainable consumption has grown to include faith-based centers, college campuses, businesses and individuals. The United States is also home to eleven: Fair Trade Towns/Cities! including Media, PA, Brattleboro, VT, Milwaukee, WI, Amherst, MA, Taos, NM, Northampton, MA, San Francisco, CA, Montclair, NJ, Ballston Spa, NY, Chico, CA, and Bluffton, OH.
Knowing that you and the President share these values, we invite you to extend the Fair Trade movement by making the White House a: Fair Trade Home! and increasing the number of items used by the White House which have been sourced according to Fair Trade principles. By requesting that your staff purchase items like food, body-care, and clothing made or sourced under Fair Trade Principles, your family´s example would show Americans how their purchasing habits can alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, and create opportunities for people to help themselves.
As a coalition of organizations, vendors, and consumers supporting Fair Trade, we represent 81 organizations, account for over $3.91 billion in annual sales and work with approximately 56,480 artisans, farmers, and producers around the world.
