By Barth Anderson

An interview with Erik Esse, Director of the Local Fair Trade Network.

Q. What *is* the Local Fair Trade Network?

The Local Fair Trade Network (LFTN) is a collaboration between farmers, co-op retailers, a farm worker organization and Fair Trade importers to foster a just and sustainable local food system. We see ourselves as standing on the shoulders of the people who created the cooperative, organic food, farm worker, family farm, and consumer rights movements, applying their ideals in new ways.

We are in the process of becoming a membership organization, much like a co-op. Farms, co-ops and other businesses, and even individuals can join LFTN and become an active part of growing Fair Trade in our region.

If Wedge members and shoppers visit our website, www.localfairtrade.org, they can learn how to join the Local Fair Trade Network as individuals members.

Q. Define "local Fair Trade" for us. Is it different than local?

When an item is labeled local, you know that it is produced in the area that the store considers local and nothing else. The Local Fair trade label, meanwhile, means that the store has a long-term, fair and cooperative relationship with the producer, and that the producer is committed to treating their employees with dignity and equity.

The Local Fair Trade label is an important tool for consumers to support the type of ethical practices that they value and not get snowed by deceptive marketing claims.

Q. Why should co-op shoppers be concerned with "local" Fair Trade?

What's at stake here is nothing less than the future of family farming and sustainable agriculture. There is a generation of small farmers who grew this sectors in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, and they are approaching retirement age or at least the age when they've got to start planning for retirement. In most cases, their children can't see farming as a sustainable way to make a living, especially with land prices going up. Atina and Martin Diffley of Gardens of Eagan found themselves in this situation and the Wedge did a great thing by buying them out, but we have many, many others farmers in similar situations.

In addition, in this country the majority of people who raise our food are immigrants with very low incomes. A huge percentage of them are undocumented. These are the people with the farm skills to grow our food in the future. Most of them grew up on farms and are much more accustomed to farm life than the vast majority of native-born Americans. But they don't have the capital to get started, and many of them live in perpetual fear of being deported.

This is the situation despite the enormous growth in organics in the last fifteen years. We need to figure how to turn that growth into sustainable incomes for our future farmers, whether they are immigrants or native born.

Q. How does Fair Trade at the local level compare with global Fair Trade (a la coffee)?

Fair Trade at the local level is based on the same, original principles as international Fair Trade. We want to have a cooperative relationship between the growers, sellers and eaters of food. Everyone involved should have a say in how things are done and a fair share in the benefits of trade.

One of the unfortunate side effects of international Fair Trade labeling has been that the idea that the processors, retailers and consumers should be full partners in the process is getting lost. Fortunately, 100% Fair Trade companies like Equal Exchange and Peace Coffee are maintaining personal relationships with farmers and going above and beyond the letter of the Fair Trade law.

What we want to see in the Local Fair Trade Network is for those relationships to go all the way to the consumer, so that the farmers and farm workers are real people to the consumers and vice versa. This is why we will be integrating everything from farmer blogs to farm tours, work days, and consumer membership into the Network.

Q. What's the situation like for migrant workers on the organic farms you've visited?

The situation for migrant workers at the farms we visited is far better than it is in agriculture in general.

First of all, because all of the farms with workers that we've visited so far are organic, the workers don't have to worry about exposure to toxic farm chemicals, which may be the biggest issue for farm workers today.

Secondly, one of the biggest issues for farm workers is respect. On too many farms, workers are treated like cattle and their needs are ignored. In contrast, the farms that LFTN works with treat their workers like fellow farmers, asking their opinions, being flexible about how work is done, and in some cases involving them in management. These farmers got involved in sustainable agriculture because it was the right thing to do, and they carry that sensibility over to how they treat their workers.

Workers pay is generally low, however, often between $7.00 and $10.00 an hour, but often a little better than equivalent pay at conventional farms. It's not what most people would consider a living wage, but the farmers themselves are in the same boat. It's very hard to find a sustainable farmer, and impossible to find a farm worker, who makes what we would think of as a middle class income.

I should mention that the most striking thing I heard from farm workers is how much they love farming. The people I've talked to love their work, love the earth, and are proud of providing good food to people. So often, farm workers are represented as faceless grunts bending over in the field. These people are farmers, and they love to hear about how much people appreciate the food they grow.

Q. What will the label tell shoppers -beyond membership in the network?

Farms become members by signing a pledge to abide by Fair Trade principles. They then begin working towards full certification, which will probably begin to happen next year.

So the label will tell shoppers that the farmers involved are committed to having a cooperative and transparent relationship with their workers, the businesses that buy their food and the shoppers themselves. It means they are committed to working toward living wages for farmers and farm workers and to cooperatively creating a system to certify Local Fair Trade.

It also tells you that you are shopping at a store that is showing a true commitment to building a just and sustainable food system in our area. Your co-op is putting resources, both money and staff time, in actively working with other stores, farmers and farm workers in new Fair Trade projects, and in connecting their shoppers to these projects.

It's really inspiring to be working with co-ops like the Wedge who are looking toward the future, starting today to solve the problems of tomorrow. It was that kind of visionary thinking that led to the founding of the co-ops and the Fair Trade movement in the first place. It's exiting to be part of the next phase of the effort.

The Local Fair Trade Network:

Current Stores

• The Wedge
• Seward Co-op
• Linden Hills Co-op
• Eastside Co-op
• Just Food Co-op (Northfield)
• Bluff Country Co-op (Winona)

New farms are joining all the time. For an updated list and information on how to join as an individual consumer, go to www.localfairtrade.org.