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What is Fair Trade

Fair Trade is the NEW up incoming thing to do! Businesses are starting to consider fair trade and how important it is for the community. If you don’t know what fair trade is, you’re not alone. Many people are just learning about it and how it works. Fair Trade is locally grown food and products that are sold to support your local farmers.

We need to help increase those numbers here in our own country and in our community. It’s not fair that most artisans work for pennies and can’t support their families. Fair Trade is here to put a stop to unfair low wages and unfair working conditions. If we can help by buying locally grown food and products we can help those farmers put food on the table for their families.

This website is fair Trade Friendly and is here for you to help out and find out what you can do for your community and where you can do it. This is beneficial for everybody, for the farmers and for you. The website will show you where you can purchase fair trade food and products and what business you go to everyday, already sell fair trade food and items. Project green Lancaster wants to make a difference and be fair.

Definition: What is Fair Trade?

How does Fair Trade effect artisans?

Fair Trade Certification

What can Fair Trade do for you?

Fair Trade in Lancaster City

What can YOU do to help support Fair Trade?

Definition: What if Fair Trade?           
                        An alternative way of doing business. Building long-term relationships with other countries and making sure that artisans in those countries are getting paid fair wages and working in fair conditions.

How does fair trade affect artisans?

Fair trade makes sure that all artisan’s involved in fair trade are getting paid fair wages for the work they produce and also making sure that they are working in fair conditions. No children labor laws are being broken, all fair conditions are promised through fair trade. Artisans make great profit off all their work. All work is hand crafted and only made with great materials. This helps out artisans economically because it provides them with sustainable development and relives poverty by generating opportunities for producers. This economically helps those artisans improve their quality of life and produce for their families and also supports the community and the environment.

Fair trade does encourage selling to practices that use local resources sustainably. Fair trade works directly with producers in regions of biodiversity to help preserve natural environments. In the end, fair trade helps to improve the standard of living and helps build a stronger community.

Most of these artisans are women. Fair trade generates an uneven benefit to low-income women. About sixty percent of the world’s 550 million working poor are women, according to the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development. Women devote twice as much time to unpaid work as men do. For many women, earning money through crafts production is the only way to a better life for them and their children. By using tools and materials available in the environment, resourceful women create handcrafts that when marketed in the developed world by Fair Trade organizations generate income they couldn’t obtain in other ways. The unique colors and the skill used to do so are what make their crafts so unique and rare to find. Quality in all products made by artisans are wonderful, there products are something you cant find anywhere else.

Fair Trade Certification

For the longest time Europe has lead the world in purchase of fairly traded products, because of Fair Trade Certified goods have been available for the longest time in mainstream retail outlets. Because of the 1999 establishment of a Fair Trade Certified seal in the United States, Americans can now buy fair trade at many locations. The TransFair seal makes sure that a commodity was produced under FLO-enforced standards. Anyone who wants to become a producer of fair trade products must meet FLO’s detailed standards and submit to FLO audits. Groups that have made it are on the FLO Registry. You can find Fair Trade Certified products in natural food stores like Wild Oats and local grocery chains like Costco and Wal-mart. Also a few more stores like:

• Starbucks,
• Dunkin Donuts
• A selected few McDonalds.
• Ben and Jerry’s is now finding a way to make their ice cream fair trade. They have one ice cream that is made with fair trade coffee extract.
• Slowly many American establishments are trying to incorporate fair trade into their products

• The Fair Trade major players are:

  • Fair Trade Resource Network
  • Fair Trade Federation
  • Fair Trade Certified
  • Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO)
  • International Fair Trade Association (IFAT)

• What can Fair Trade do for you?

  Being able to support fair trade on your own time is great. You will be helping artisans in other countries by supporting their fair wages and also the quality in their art work. Being as you can’t get this high quality produce any where else. Just by educating yourself on fair trade is enough. Fair trade can provide you with

  • High quality products, food and coffee
  • Assurance that fair trade is improving others lives and well-being.
  • Peace of mind that your support the greater good.
  • Connecting with people in diverse cultures in the developing world.
  • A good selection of unique high quality imports that cant be found in chain stores.
  • An opportunity to encourage retailers that deal in sweatshops to consider fair trade products instead.

  Fair Trade in Lancaster City
              Fair trade is slowly catching on to cities like Lancaster. Still no many places supply fair trade products. Some local shops sell fair trade items such as food, coffee and home décor.  Places near you:

  • Local Churches- St. Peters Lutheran
  • SquareOne Coffee
  • Your local Starbucks
  • F&M College Café
  • Millersville Ganser Grind Coffee
  • Ten Thousand Villages
  • Coffee
  • Décor
  • Café

  Local Supermarkets that carry fair trade products:

  • Giant Supermarket

    They carry Fair Trade Certified Flowers. The Fair Trade Certified label on bouquets of flowers empowers workers on flower farms around the world to put nutritious food on their tables. Purchasing these flowers from giants can help farmers in other countries pay for their children’s educations and help develop a better community. Fair Trade Certified growers use natural pest controls and reducing water and energy use

    • Ten Thousand Villages

    They carry a variety of different products and they even have a café inside. You can buy fair trade coffee and food. All artisans that are involved with ten thousand villages and fair trade receive about 50% of a single purchase. This helps there community and their family grow. About 70 % of products sold at ten thousand villages are produced by women. Helping women gain an income improves not only their lives but the lives of their children and their community. The four big areas of impact are;

    • Food
    • Education
    • Health care
    • Housing

    Artisans that work for ten thousand villages have very poor lives and in live in places you couldn’t image. Usually one meal a day is all they have the entire day.  Schools charge fees for children to attend. If one child of two can go to school, it will be the boy not the girl. School fees are very overwhelming and most children are never able to see a school due to unfair wages. Because of fair trade, ten thousand villages is able to put those children to school so that they have better options in their future than their parents did. Fair trade will slowly reverse global poverty, at one day at a time.

  What can YOU do to help support fair Trade

  Just by visited this few local places will help artisans all over the world to support their families and put food on the table. Just by your support whether it be as large as getting involved in fair trade day orsomething small like grabbing a cup of coffee at SquareOne, you being able to show your support and knowledge on fair trade is enough.
  Fair Trade Day is the second Saturday in May when everyone will come out and support fair trade. This day is known for events and just plain support. During the course of the day organizations promote an understanding of fair trade, celebrate fair trade business, artisans and farmers. Going out to purchase a cup of coffee or buying fair trade foods from a supermarket, get involved and help support on this day. To find out more on what happens on fair trade day in your town visit World Fair Trade Day site.

  Fair trade month is in the month of October, this month is for supporting those businesses that do support fair trade. Throughout the month business and organizations promote fair trade by hold contest and promotions, movie screenings and much more. These events have interested people all over the country to help support fair trade and acquire the knowledge as well. You can hold your own event or start a committee. By starting your own committee you can get enough people together to help your town or city become a fair trade town or city. Find out how to support fair trade by viewing this link.

  Fair Trade Towns or Cities SquareOne

  How can you make your town a fair trade one? Many towns have been becoming fair trade towns and recognized by their town for doing so. Fair traders work locally to promote fair trade, they have the opportunity to their knowledge with one another.. In order to become a fair trade town or city you must do the following:

  • Form a committee that meets regularly
  • Committee should include different people like, business, academic, faith-based, non-profit.
  • Not to big of a group but a manageable size
  • Be able to identify a specific meeting time and place.
  • Come up with an organizational format of meeting
  • Meeting minutes- identify key strengths and skills within the group
  • Most important EDUCATE YOURSELF. Make sure that your committee is going by the correct definition of Fair Trade.
  • Join events on Fair Trade, it will be fun for your group
  • Get Fair Traded products to be available in local supermarkets, cafes, coffee shop.
  • There should be at least one store selling Fair Trade Products for every 2500 residents in a town of 10,000 or less.
  • There should be at least one store selling Fair Trade products for every 5,000 residents in a town or city that has over 10,000 residents.
  • IF there is a supermarket in your town that is selling fair trade products, they must have at LEAST two different products in each store.