Growing Our Movement For Change
It’s 30 years since the first Fairtrade certified products hit supermarket shelves. In that time, our movement has achieved incredible transformative impact.
We now work with more than 2 million farmers and workers around the world. Between 1994 and 2022, farmers and producers have shared an estimated £1.7 billion in Fairtrade Premium payments.
But with the world facing major challenges, now is the time to redouble our efforts to do more. Many of the farmers overseas who produce the goods we rely on in the UK are facing the impacts of both climate change and poverty.
‘Fairtrade has supported us in dealing with the current cost of living crisis… If I was working on a farm that wasn’t certified, my life would be much more difficult.’
Marlon Antonio Arellano Berrío, a worker on the Yumaná banana plantation, Colombia.
Our 30th anniversary report celebrates the impact of decades of work towards fairer prices paid to farmers and workers in lower income countries.
It also calls on changemakers to promote fair trade to help producers and farmers tackle poverty and climate change, and build a sustainable trade system for all.
The UK is food insecure, importing almost half its food from countries and approximately 16% from countries which are exposed to climate change and lack the capacity to adapt and respond.
Environmental shocks in one part of the world can lead to empty shelves and food price inflation in our supermarkets, exacerbating the cost of living.
‘We need to urgently focus in on credible collaborative solutions to the challenges farmers face. We live in a world where the warming climate is threatening the future of staple crops like cocoa, bananas and coffee.
The more co-operation and power-sharing, the more supply chains can be strengthened. This is increasingly important as the UK becomes more food insecure.’
Michael Gidney, CEO Fairtrade Foundation
Urgent action to increase prices and power for farmers is needed now.
We must act at pace in a world in which the climate crisis, global conflicts, and the pandemic have heightened threats to farmers’ livelihoods and exposed the fragility of our shared food system.
Find out how you can get involved to make trade fairer
‘I am so proud to be Patron of this extraordinary organisation.
Evolving from a grassroots movement to a truly global phenomenon, Fairtrade has provided three decades of practical commitment and solidarity to the men and women across the world who grow the products we rely on every day.’
Adjoa Andoh, Fairtrade Patron, Actress and Activist.