Our Community »  Fair Trade Australia and New Zealand

By purchasing Fairtrade Certified products, consumers are reducing poverty through their everyday shopping.

Fairtrade is an independent certification system that offers farmers and workers in developing countries a better deal and improved terms of trade – giving them an opportunity to improve their working and living conditions, plan for a better future and create brighter opportunities for their families and local communities.

Today, more than six million people – farmers, producers, workers and their families – from 66 countries benefit from the unique, independent Fairtrade system. Fairtrade provides farmers and workers in developing countries with a fair price (the Fairtrade Price) for their produce, helping protect them from damaging fluctuations in world market prices. They also receive an additional sum of money (The Fairtrade Premium) for investment in social, economic and environmental development in their community, such as educational and medical facilities. Fairtrade Certification standards also prohibit the use of forced and abusive child labour.

Hunger impacts the lives of one in eight of the people on our planet, while consumers in rich countries waste as much food each year as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the world’s food is produced by small farms, yet half of the world’s hungriest people are themselves smallholder farmers. High and volatile food prices are the new normal for producers and consumers the world over. Fairtrade works to help farmers; increase their voice, influence and organisation; ensure they are empowered in value chains and receive fair prices; prioritise sustainable agriculture and climate resistance.

In Australia, the main Fairtrade Certified products available are chocolate, coffee, tea, cotton, and on a smaller scale, sports balls, rice, quinoa and most recently roses. Brands big and small have Fairtrade Certified offerings, from local coffee roasters such as Amelia Franklin in Canberra, to well-known household names such as Cadbury Dairy Milk with their milk chocolate blocks. Big or small, companies are making the change to ensure that their farmers are being paid a fair wage for their produce.

Fairtrade Certified chocolate, tea and coffee products can be found in most supermarkets and independent grocers.

To find out more visit our website or follow and like us on Twitter and Facebook.