Fair Trade Bananas, Vanilla, Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate!

These are just a few of the amazing foods we get from farming communities of the world. Fair Trade Day usually occurs in May. Let’s make the world a better place while we enjoy great foods with good appetite. Shop honest by choosing fair trade products from around the world.

Fair Trade means small-scale farmers get paid a fair amount for the special crops they are growing. Most coffee isn’t fair trade. Same with tea. Fairtrade bananas are as rare as monarchs butterflies in February. What does this mean? It could mean that overworked poor farmers, using environment-damaging growing techniques, got paid poverty wages so you could have some cafe mocha. Doesn’t that spoil your appetite? In order to adorn our recipes with pure vanilla, let’s all agree to provide honest pay for our beloved farmer. We should support fair trade.

 

There are many fair trade organizations, certifiers, and membership associations serving developing nations of the world. Each one promotes fair trade practices according to their own standards. This may involve the health and safety of workers, eco growing techniques, or ethical economics. There are even some products produced in a fair trade way without being part of a larger fair trade organization. These relationships are built between vendors with integrity and individual farmers.

Easily spot fair trade products by looking for logos such as these when shopping for products sourced from poorer areas of the world. There are others, too.

Fair Trade Organization Logos:

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Fair Trade Day!

 

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Did you know that Martindale’s is one of the few places in the Springfield area you can get FAIR TRADE BANANAS?