Fairtrade Fortnight 29th February-13th March: Choose products that change Lives

Fairtrade Fortnight 2016 will be featuring Fairtrade breakfasts: 

to inspire the UK public to sit down for breakfast in support of the farmers who grow the food we have every morning, such as coffee, tea, cocoa and bananas. As Martin Luther King once said, ‘before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world’.

 Lack of food security is one of the world’s most critical issues. Despite millions of farmers and workers in developing countries working hard every day to grow the food we eat, many don’t earn enough to know where their next meal is coming from. The Fairtrade system ensures 1.5 Million farmers across Africa, Asia and Latin and Central America receive a fair price for their work, as well as an additional Fairtrade Premium, used to invest in their communities. The community then decides what the premium is spent on, whether that’s building a new school or hospital, or investing in better environmental business practices.

 When people are paid a fair price, they can have more control over their lives when times are hard, and worry less about how they will feed their families. Whether it’s having the money to spend on food or being able to expand their farms to grow more food to eat, Fairtrade means many farmers and workers are able to do what we take for granted – put enough food on the table for the people they care about, all year round.

 Farming is the backbone of the world. It’s simply wrong that whilst farmers work hard to produce what we eat so many of them should go hungry themselves.

 The UK is one of the world’s leading Fairtrade markets, with more products and more awareness of Fairtrade than anywhere else. St James Church is a fair-trade church: we use Fairtrade coffee and tea at all our events.

 There is an enormous range of Fairtrade products available, including clothing, jewellery, toys, homeware and gifts as well as groceries and household items so it is possible to make a large percentage of our shopping ethical.

During Fairtrade Fortnight you will see promotions for Fairtrade product in some of our local stores.

There are links for certain products from the Fairtrade website, but the largest range is available from Traidcraft plc, which is a trading company entirely dedicated to fair trade in that it applies fair trade principles across its full range of products. You can shop online: http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk and also access their website from the Fairtrade website.

 For more information on the range of products, see the Fairtrade website. http://www.fairtrade.org.uk (the range now includes fairly traded gold: say ‘I do’ with an ethically mined gold ring!)

 If your local shop doesn’t offer Fairtrade products you can order leaflets explaining Fairtrade and giving them to the manager, while politely asking them to stock Fairtrade. And when they do, support them by telling others and buying the Fairtrade products!