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Fair
Trade Fruit is Here
Fair Trade Certified™ fruit has finally
made its way to the U.S. Since last year, TransFair has
worked closely with Fair Trade farmers to bring you the
freshest and most environmentally friendly Fair Trade Certified
bananas,
mangoes, pineapples, and grapes. The response
to this dramatic expansion of the Fair Trade product offering
from consumers, the media and industry has been tremendous.
These latest additions to the Fair Trade list of products
hail from Ecuador,
South Africa, Peru, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic,
where farmers now enjoy more social and environmental benefits
thanks to fair prices. Click
here for produce availability near you.
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National
Media Exposure for Fair Trade
On January 21, 2004, USA Today readers opened the Money section
to find an exclusive story announcing TransFair USA’s
launch of Fair Trade Certified fresh fruit--namely bananas,
pineapples, mangoes, and grapes. |
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other media outlets quickly picked up the scoop with similar
stories on Fair Trade products, including Time Magazine, The
Wall Street Journal, CBS Market Watch, The San Francisco Chronicle,
The Oakland Tribune, The Arizona Daily Star, The Quincy Patriot
Ledger, WKRC-TV, The Packer, and Gourmet News, among others.
In all, TransFair has recorded over 35 media hits in print and
broadcast across the country since the beginning of January
2004. Click
here for updates on Fair Trade news. |
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Lutherans
Rise to a New Challenge
Following the successful Lutheran World Relief (LWR) Coffee
Project in 2000-2003--which resulted in the purchase of 45 tons
of Fair Trade Certified coffee--LWR and Equal Exchange have
joined Lutheran Woman Today magazine in challenging Lutherans
to a 90-ton coffee brewing goal. The “Pour Justice to
the Brim” campaign began October 2003. By January 2004,
Lutherans had purchased 41 tons of FTC coffee--40% of the goal
in just four months! For more info, visit www.lwr.org/coffee/
or call Sarah Ford at 410-230-2824. |
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Student
Fair Trade Supporters Converge
Santa Cruz was the site of the first-ever United Students for
Fair Trade (USFT) Convergence (Feb. 13-16). The event brought
together approximately 100 students from universities and high
schools, various NGOs, growers from Nicaragua and Mexico, and
four coffee companies to learn from each other and plan strategies
for expanding Fair Trade nationwide. Empowered and energized,
students chose national leaders and set regional objectives
for scaling up Fair Trade on campuses and in their communities.
Visit USFT’s website
for more information, or contact Matt
Eppelsheimer or Tony
LoPresti. |
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FT
is for Chocolate Lovers
February 21st was the COPIA “Death by Chocolate”
event in Napa, California. TransFair joined the festivities,
giving out samples of Fair Trade Certified chocolate, including
Ecco Bella, Art Bars/Ithaca Fine Chocolates, Dagoba, and Green
& Blacks. Hundreds of chocolate lovers came by to learn
about how cocoa is grown, where Fair Trade chocolate comes from,
and where to buy these exceptional products. Click
here to learn who produces Fair Trade Certified chocolate
in your area. |
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May
8th is World Fair Trade Day
From Nepal to New York, people like you will be celebrating
World Fair Trade Day on May 8th. Show solidarity with the world’s
farmers by making conscientious purchases and organizing your
friends and family in support of Fair Trade. |
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On May 8th, buy Fair Trade Certified coffee, tea, chocolate,
or fruit. Fill out a comment card requesting Fair Trade at a
local café or supermarket. And, better yet, organize
a Fair Trade event at your university, place of worship, or
other community meeting ground. |
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Cooperative
Close-Up: ASOPROBAN, Colombia
Where do Fair Trade Certified fruits come from? One source is
ASOPROBAN, a co-op formed in 1984 to unite small-scale farmers
living in a very poor and highly militarized region of northwest
Colombia. ASOPROBAN began exporting bananas on Fair Trade terms
after getting certified in 1998. The income from Fair Trade
has allowed ASOPROBAN's farmers to institute social and environmental
conservation programs in the face of conflict and corruption. |
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example, the co-op is on its way to converting 52 hectares to
organic production, and has established a reforestation project,
a health program for all co-op members and their families, and
a women-led plastic recycling program.
"Fair Trade gives us the incentive to invest in social programs
that benefit farmers and the community," says co-op member Edinson
Cabana Zapata. "If it weren't for Fair Trade, we wouldn't be
able to survive as banana farmers because the price we receive
for a box of conventional bananas does not cover our expenses."
Without Fair Trade, fruit farmers often receive only a few cents
a pound for their crop, far below the cost of production. For
example, in Ecuador the cost of basic necessities for a family
of four is $9.60 a day, but on non-Fair Trade farms, workers
may earn as little as $3 a day. |
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Reports from the Road: TransFair Visits Fair Trade Farmers in
Sri Lanka and Africa |
| Jamie
Dean, a member of TransFair USA's certification team, reported
seeing firsthand the benefits of Fair Trade on the Koslanda
tea plantation in Sri Lanka, which she visited last January.
Koslanda, an all-organic tea estate, uses a representative body
to decide how Fair Trade revenue should be allocated among Koslanda's
400 worker families. Fair Trade premiums have helped modernize
living conditions, for example through the purchase of gas stoves
for cooking. According to one estate worker, "We used to spend
up to four hours a day gathering firewood. Now, we can do it
all much faster, which leaves more time to do other work and
spend time with our families." |
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After a February trip to coffee farms in Tanzania and Ethiopia, Kimberly Easson, TransFair’s director of strategic relationships, described the sense of hope she felt while meeting with Fair Trade farmers. She was in Africa to attend the East Africa Fine Coffee Association (EAFCA) conference where she participated in a panel on coffee certification. African Fair Trade co-ops from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda also attended the conference. In a moving key note speech, renowned singer and UNICEF Ambassador Harry Belafonte urged the industry audience to pay fair prices for the coffee they buy. |
While
at the Kilimanjaro Native Cooperative Union (KNCU) in Tanzania,
actor and human rights activist Danny Glover witnessed first-hand
the quality and community improvements that the farmers have
been able to implement thanks to Fair Trade. Colleen Crosby
of Santa Cruz Coffee Roasters and Daniel Alejandrez of Barrios
Unidos helped to make Danny’s visit a reality. “The
trip was an incredible opportunity for us to connect with the
farmers in appreciation of their hard work and successes despite
the severe price crisis they face. We were impressed with the
warmth and spirit of the people, the beautiful surroundings,
and the resulting high quality product,” she declared.
Read more about Fair Trade and Tanzania’s KNCU
cooperative >
Learn more about Fair Trade’s global
reach > |
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