GROWING FREEDOM NOW

Food tastes better when it is produced by happy people. And happy people are free people. Today we are celebrating Fair Trade, along with the economic and social freedom it fosters.

If you consider that many of your favorite foods, like chocolate, bananas, coffee, and tea come from countries where farmers are working for little or no money, and you understand what that means for them and their families, you might consider choosing differently.

FAIRTRADE FOUNDATION

Small-scale farmers and workers, are amongst the most marginalised groups globally. For example, according to the Fairtrade Foundation, 60% of the world’s cocoa comes from Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana alone, where political and economic upheaval ensures poverty for millions of people.

Fairtrade organizations advocate ethical practices between producers, consumers, communities, and the environment. Fairtrade’s global system is 50% owned by producers, representing farmer and worker organizations, including over 170,000 farmers, in 19 countries.

Fairtrade helps farmers to get better prices for their crops by setting minimum prices, eliminating middlemen, and adding premiums which are reinvested in local business or community projects. For example, Fairtrade’s minimum price for cocoa is $2,000 per ton, with a $200 premium per ton.

While Fairtrade certifies small-scale farmer organizations who grow certain products, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and rice, they also certify plantations that grow bananas, tea, and flowers, with an additional focus on protecting workers’ basic rights: ensuring health and safety, freedom of association, and preventing discrimination. They also ensure that no child or other illegal labor is employed. 

GRENADA CHOCOLATE COMPANY

The Grenada Chocolate Company maintains freedom from fossil fuels and helps us all breathe more freely. It grows its organic cacao and makes its chocolates using solar and wind power. It ships tons of its chocolates from Grenada to the UK and Holland on a century engineless square-rigged Brigantine sailboat.

Available at Rococo Chocolates in London.

UCA SOPPEXCCA

The UCA SOPPEXCCA, a union of 16 co-operatives with 510 coffee farmers in Nicaragua, provides a provides a range benefits to its members. Premium pricing has enabled members to buy more land, increase coffee productivity and quality, and increase their incomes.

The group has also initiated projects to improve food security and reduce dependency on coffee by diversifying production into fruit (bananas, oranges, mangoes, guava, plums), honey, yams, and cocoa.

The union has gone even further -- to save lives. They implemented a cervical cancer prevention program, screening over 5,000 local women.

Fairtrade also benefits the environment. For example, the premium price of Fairtrade coffee helps make it financially viable for farmers to grow coffee in a manner that preserves forests rather than clear-cut them.

HARVEST LIMITED

The freedom that Fairtrade fosters yields happier employees, higher productivity, and increased sales. Since becoming Fairtrade certified in 2011, Harvest Limited, a rose farm cooperative in Kenya, with a community of about 700 farmers, increased their sales by 30%. 

And, in just two years, the farm has provided free lunch, clean water, medical treatment, education, childcare, transport, improved safety standard, raised wages, and improved social justice in the workplace.

They have also elected to dedicate a portion of their Fairtrade Premium toward environmental projects in their community, such as planting trees along the Athi River to prevent soil erosion, preserve the water catchment area, and improve the local ecosystem.

Some larger brands whose products tout Fair Trade certification, include Ben & Jerry’s, Archer Farms, Peet’s Coffee, and Starbucks.

Look for Fair Trade certifications by two organizations: Fair Trade USA/ Fair Trade Labeling Organization and the Institute for Marketecology (IMO).

To get involved and support Fairtrade, you can donate to Fairtrade online.

Read more about Freedom all this week on BeautifulNow, including Set Yourself Free: Beautiful Road Trips, Freestyling Awesomeness: Lorenz Holder, Keeping Beauty Wild & Free, Dreams of Freedom & Peace, and Tiny Windows Can Free Minds. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Jake Liefer. Balancing.
2. Image: by Tara. Cocoa From Ghana.
3. Image: by Equal Exchange. Banana Farmer.
4. Image: by Chris Goldberg. Cacao Plant at La Loma Jungle Lodge and Chocolate Farm - Bastimentos, Bocas Del Toro - Panama.
5. Image: by Fairtrade India. Harvesting Tea.
6. Image: by Rococo Chocolates. Cocoa Pods.
7. Image: By William Neuheisel. Fair Trade Coffee Beans.
8. Image: by Larry Jacobsen. Coffee.
9. Image: Courtesy of Harvest Flowers. Fair Trade Roses.
10. Image: by Anonymous Dissident. Flower Bouquet.
11. Image: by Fair Trade USA. Fair Trade Flowers.
12. Image: by Matthias Ripp. In the Caribbean (Dominica).
13. Image: by Fairtrade UK. Woman Harvesting Crops.
14. Image: by Fair Trade USA. Fair Trade Roses.
15. Image: by Henderson Hills. Woman With Coffee Cup.