PG Tips has not gone with the Fairtrade Mark but has opted for RainForest Alliance Certification. Is this a good thing? As one of the comments I received points out, it has many ethical/environmental aims and is more easily available. Will the Fairtradeblogger now be being buying PG Tips and ‘doing his bit for the tea farmer’ as their adverts say?

Yes and No, there’s more to this than meets the eye…

It’s worth noting that Rainforest Alliance Certification standards and the Fairtrade Mark standards overlap, but come from different directions:

• Fairtrade is about the deal for the farmers and ensuring that the unfair trade system is reversed so that farmers can work their out of poverty. Environmental benefits mainly come as a side-shoot from the empowerment and protection of the workers - e.g. reduction in chemical usage, reduction in deforestation as current crops are financially viable.
• Rainforest Alliance comes from an environmental and sustainability angle. Working conditions are also in the standards, but there is no aim to change the trade system. Any increases in price paid to the grower for the product come as a side-shoot of growing a better quality crop .

It’s this crucial difference that affects everything. There is merit in both systems - both Fairtrade and the RainForest Alliance ensure that no child labour is employed and that the International Labour Organisation standards are being adhered to, for example.

But the Fairtrade Mark is about empowering the poor and ensures that the tea is bought by the packaging companies in the developed world at a fair price. It is a partnership between the buyer and producer (with responsibilities on both):

• The guaranteed minimum price, coupled with payment up front, frees the farmers from the tyranny of loan sharks and unscrupulous buyers.
• The Fairtrade premium (the guaranteed extra on top of the minimum price) allows the farmers and workers to develop their community in a democratic fashion.

Under the Rainforest Alliance Certification scheme, the responsibility is on the farmers/plantation owners only . If the market price falls to an unsustainable level, there is no responsiblity on the developed world company to buy at a higher level.

On environmental issues, the RainForest Alliance Certification has tighter standards than Fairtrade.

It is also important to bear in mind that Fairtrade Mark is given to products and FairtradeTea is 100% Fairtrade. Rainforest Alliance Certification is given to farms, not products - so it is always worth checking how much of the ingredients in the product is from Rainforest Alliance Certified growers.

All of this raises an important question: why are so many different labelling schemes are coming out?

Harriet Lamb, director of the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK, points out that this can cause confusion in the consumer’s mind and dilutes the chance for everyone to benefit from Fair Trade. After all, we’re too busy to spend hours comparing in-depth certification standards documents before making a purchase. Why can’t there be just one certification scheme that provides the assurance that consumers need? Whilst she is against a ’super-label’ that tries to bundle up organic, fair trade, environmental, etc. standards, I think that this misses a fantastic opportunity. Certainly some areas can be kept as separate; Organic being a good example (everyone should let the Soil Association’s mark do that one). However, there are other schemes that have a lot of overlap and need to work together. There are opportunities in collaborative working, as the Rainforest scheme has good uptake amongst tea plantations and strong environmental standards, whilst the Fairtrade scheme has strong uptake amongst small-scale tea farmer co-operatives and has strong social and ethical standards.

So, Yes, Rainforest Certification is a good thing but it needs to do more on changing the trade system. Fairtrade is, in my opinion, better as it focuses on tackling the root causes of poverty and changes the way the companies treat developing countries. (However, Fairtrade would do well to consider moving environmental issues up the agenda.) And, No, the Fairtradeblogger will not be buying Rainforest Certified tea, but will ‘do his bit’ by buying Fairtrade tea.

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What’s your opinion, have I got it wrong?

Money, Money, Money - I’ve found a way that we can even make our money Fair Trade!

The Dutch weave fairtrade cotton into their 10 Euro notes for strength and quality.

Luckily, there are ways to make our money in the UK Fair Trade without having to pay with everything with Dutch Euros! We can invest our money in bank accounts, share accounts, shares and ISAs which benefit Fair Trade companies and organisations.

Bank Accounts

Triodos run a Fairtrade Saver Account. The money invested in these accounts is invested in Fair Trade businesses like Cafedirect, Gossypium, Equal Exchange, World of Difference and Zaytoun. Also, Triodos will donate 0.25% of the average balance to the Fairtrade Foundation and you can also choose to top-up that donation with a proportion of the interest that you earn on the account as well.

In 2006, the Fairtrade Foundation received £27,000 from these accounts and Triodos had £2.4million available to invest in Fair Trade companies.

Share Accounts

Another option is to put money into a Share Account with the Shared Interest Society (a member of IFAT) which makes the money available to lend to Fair Trade businesses all over the world. These loans allow buyers to pay producers in advance and for producers to be able to gain credit without having to resort to loan sharks.

This account does pay interest and allows withdrawals to be made, but is very different to a bank account. Interest is paid on the account yearly, at a rate that is always below the market rate and maybe zero (depending on the UK base rate, the number of bad debts and the performance of the Society overall). According the Society, on 4th April 2008, the interest rate was 1.25%. The Society is not a bank, but a co-operative lending society and so your money is at risk as the value of the investment in the account can go down.

Fair Trade Shares

Some Fair Trade companies have made share issues - Traidcraft and Cafedirect shares are available. These shares are not listed on an exchange, but instead are bought and sold through matched exchange systems in which buyers and sellers are put into contact.

Investing in these shares is not about short-term profit-making; the prices of these shares are likely to remain stable. As James Bland, Chief Executive of the Social Enterprise Coalition explains ’While investors can make money from investing in social enterprise, it is not the same as buying shares in a company listed on the stock market. For a start, the share price will often be determined by the company, rather than the stock market - as is the case for Cafedirect… That is perhaps inevitable given the lack of an active market for the shares, but it does mean that share prices tend to go nowhere.’ Also, dividends are not always paid each year - as the focus is on ensuring that the producers and growers benefit - rather than shareholders.

Instead, the aim of investing in these shares is to be a partner with the company by providing funds to allow them to grow and extend their business and also to participate in the decision-making and direction-setting of the company at their Annual General Meetings.

ISAs

Cash ISAs

Fair Trade Cash ISAs don’t exist as such. However, the Co-operative Bank strictly avoids investing in companies with poor human rights records and is part of the Co-operative Group whose supermarket chain have more Fairtrade products than anyone else. The Co-operative Bank’s has a cash ISA, and also Smile, their Internet bank arm, has a cash ISA. The Co-operative Bank and Smile ethical policy is to only invest in companies that have a responsible approach to fair trade and labour rights.

Triodos have an ethical cash ISA and they only invest their customers’ money in ethical companies (including Fair Trade, as listed above).

Stocks and Shares ISAs

Also, Fair Trade Stocks and Shares ISAs don’t exist - but the Co-operative Bank have the CIS Sustainable Leaders Trust which ethically screens the companies it invests in.

Please note: the value of shares and other financials investments may go down as well as up! I’m not a Financial Adviser and am unable to provide any guidance as to the current or future performance of any of the financial products that I have mentioned here.

(Acknowledgements - Thanks to Harriet Lamb’s book and a recent Metro article for pointing me in the right direction. Also, thanks to austinevan for the photo.)

What about me?

I have ensured that my bank accounts and ISAs are benefiting Fair Trade organisations. In the future, I’ll look into the Shares and Share Accounts.

What do you think - are you willing to accept lower interest rates and greater risk to your investments?

Are you a Traidcraft or Cafedirect shareholder or a Share Account investor? What has your experience been?

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Fighting the Banana Wars and Other Fairtrade Battles is written by Harriet Lamb, director of the Fairtrade Foundation , about how the movement started with 3 staff in a tiny office and grew into an international force, improving the lives of 7 million people around the globe.

It is a book infused with hope and pragmatism. It shows how the differences in day-to-day purchases that ordinary individuals make percolate down to have life-changing effects on the farmers and communities in the developing countries. As Tadesse Meskela, General Manager of the Oromia Coffee Farmer’s Co-operative Union explains, ‘Fairtrade is not just about buying and selling. It is about creating a global family’.

The road from ‘crap chocolate wrapped in cardboard’ (as Tony Robinson jokingly put it) with an uncertain future to annual sales of £450million with a range of 3,000 products from 2,000 different suppliers is wittily explained with breath-taking honesty. Full acknowledgement is given to the grass-roots people who actively campaigned to persuade the big companies, and it is inspiring to read how the sustained refusal to take no for an answer from everday people eventually led to such a huge sea change from Big Business.

Harriet pull no punches in describing the everyday horrific consequences of our desire to buy cheap goods. I found the opening story of the mother who had to nurse her deformed baby until it died as a consequence of the chemical used to spray bananas almost too terrible to bear. But Harriet is not out to guilt trip us, she shows how these injustices can be stopped and provides optimism instead.

“Traditionally the banana worker is the poorest person in our society, managed and exploited by multinational corporations… I was someone that took a box and loaded it onto a train… In this new system, I have become an international businessman.” - Arturo Gomez, banana worker and international businessman .

She also doesn’t shy away from the difficult questions which could so easily be airbrushed out of the picture - should multinational companies be allowed to only provide a tiny proportion of their range as Fairtrade, how is tokenism by big companies avoided, what about other oppressive labour practices (e.g. mining, diamond trade, sweatshops, etc.), what about the struggling UK farmers? Each receives a balanced answer along the way and I found myself re-evaluating some of my views and assumptions.

The book ends with how the tide is finally changing and that People Pressure is now allowing the Fairtrade Foundation to ‘encourage companies to move from compliance to commitment’ - to switch whole categories of products to Fairtrade and to tackle ‘the social and environmental issues right throught their supply chains’.

She reminds us that that People Pressure needs to be maintained to keep the momentum going and explains ways in which everyone can get involved. There is still plenty of ground to be won - for example, less than 1% of all chocolate bought in the UK is Fairtrade and no major confectioner has a Fairtrade product yet,

This is an amazing and brilliant book. I cannot recommend it enough.

Have you read it, what did you think?

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Easter is very early this year - almost justifying all the supermarkets filling their shelves with Easter eggs on Boxing Day for a change.

With that in mind, here are some ideas for having a Fair Trade Easter:

• Easter Eggs - Divine has a fabulous range and most of the supermarkets have some eggs, but my favourite is from Burnt Sugar.

• Chocolate mini eggs for the kids - available from Divine

• Chocolate chicks! - from Oxfam - also lambs!

• Easter cards - beautiful cards from Traidcraft

• Egg cups - from fairgift

Also, I wanted to quickly say sorry for such a long time between posts. I have been on holiday in Cornwall (the county with Fairtrade at almost every cafe!). Hopefully, I’ll still time to buy my Easter gifts…

If you have already voted, could you quickly re-submit your vote?

But for those who haven’t, it provides a perfect opportunity to fill in the survey…

BeeWyched is a honey’d ale brewed using Fairtrade Chilean Honey and Fairtrade sugar from Malawi.  And the good news is that it’s available from several supermarkets.

It has a smooth, sweet honey taste and I heartily recommend it.  It’ll definitely be my pint of choice during the Six Nations matches this weekend.

 I give it four stars.

If you have tried BeeWyched, please let me know what you thought of it and also put a star rating as well.

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Our son needs a new duvet cover, and we have been looking for the Fair Trade options.  There are plain (boring) white ones , tie-dye batik ones and some more conventional patterned ones.  But none are exactly what we are looking for…

So, my wife is keen is to get some Fair Trade fabric of exactly the pattern we want and create the cover ourselves.  There are some lovely Fair Trade fabrics available by the metre - examples are here and here.

We shall be visiting one of the outlets that sells them around Easter and we’ll let you know what the fabrics are like and how the ‘home-made’ approach works.  It opens up a whole new world of possibilities…

Success!  On Wednesday, I bought the Fairtrade individual coffee filters and Earl Grey tea bags from Marks and Spencers.  I can now call my workplace semi-Fairtrade. 

The individual coffee filters are very nice (strength 3), but I can tell that I’ll soon be taking in a cafetiere so that I can get my strength 5 ground coffee caffeine kick!

So why was I in Starbucks on Thursday?  I have to admit that I had never expected to set foot in a Starbucks ever again: the last time I was in that outlet it had not been a good experience - I had decided to try the Starbucks challenge and had asked which of their coffees were Fairtrade.  The staff’s answer was that all their coffees were Fairtrade.  Unfortunately, this was far from the the case - at that time, their Fairtrade coffee was only available on request and the staff would have to grind it specially for you.

So why was I in a Starbucks now?  Well, a colleague suggested at the end of a meeting that we should all go and take advantage of their free cup of Fairtrade coffee offer to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight.  I was curious, and it also sparked a conversation amongst my colleagues about how much of a difference buying Fairtrade makes.

The only brand of Fairtrade coffee that Starbucks stock is called Cafe Estima.  It’s a good, strong coffee, and it was jolly nice to have a free cup.  What interested me more, though, was that the store was advertising Good Coffee day and had lots of leaflets about Starbucks’ own schemes, but none about Fairtrade. 

The pros and cons of the different coffee certification schemes can get very confusing.  I’ve done some research and found a  document that analyses them.  I’ll read it (its over 60 pages) and post a summary in the near future, to help negotiate the ethical labyrinth.  In the meantime, I’ll stick with buying Fairtrade products…

I’ve realised that perhaps I shouldn’t be an ethical snob, but should encourage Fair Trade by supporting it wherever I happen to find myself!

 But what do you think - is it right to support mainstream companies that only offer a tiny selection of Fair Trade?

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I decided that I would raid the tea and coffee available in the tearoom cupboards, but unfortunately they aren’t Fairtrade either!

So, before I go into caffeine withdrawal and fall into a coma at my desk, I shall be buying some Fairtrade individual coffee filters from the Marks and Spencers on the way!  I let you know what they are like…

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