Fair Trade

Fair Trade is way of doing business that helps small-scale, family farmers and their communities thrive.

In developing countries it can take many middlemen to get food from farm fields to your table, and very little of the money you spend on food reaches the people who grew it. Fair Trade brings farmers closer to consumers and delivers more dollars back to farm communities.

Fair Trade includes:

• Direct purchasing from small farmers and their co-operatives.
• Negotiated prices that provide for a dignified livelihood.
• A promise by importers to make affordable credit available to the farmer co-operatives.
• A worldwide network of non-profit certifying organizations.
• A fee paid by the importers and wholesalers to cover the cost of certification.
• A seal that assures consumers that a product was fairly traded.

Look for Fair Trade seals on many of our products, both imported and domestic.

For more information about issues around trade:

• Fair Trade USA
• Oxfam International - Agriculture Campaign
• Equal Exchange - Fair Trade
• Equal Exchange - Resources