Doing Well by Doing Good: How Fair Trade Benefits Brands, Retailers, and Foodservice
Fair trade is not just a way to do good – it is a way to transform businesses, meet sustainability goals and build resilient and transparent supply chains. Fair trade products are found across several industries including coffee, consumer packaged goods, produce, floral, seafood, apparel, and home goods.
What is fair trade?
Fair trade is a global movement that puts people and the planet first. It helps connect suppliers and buyers who want to source products from farms and factories that operate with the best social and environmental practices.
The people who produce our food and products face numerous health and safety issues. Fair trade standards help keep workers safe by providing health and safety protections such as eliminating forced and child labor, mandatory training to reduce repetitive stress injuries and pesticide exposure.
In addition, adhering to fair trade standards comes with added benefits to producer communities. For every Fair Trade Certified product sold, the farm or factory workers involved in its production earn an additional amount of money that goes into a worker controlled community development fund at origin to spend on projects that meet their social, economic, and environmental needs. These community development projects can include clean water, …