Fair Trade is, fundamentally, a response to the failure of conventional trade to deliver sustainable livelihoods and development opportunities to people in the poorest countries of the world. Poverty and hardship limit people's choices while market forces tend to further marginalise and exclude them. This makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
Fair Trade. It sounds wonderful, those two little words that mean so much to many people around the world. Beginning in the 1940s and 50s, fair trade took awhile to get a hold of people's attention. Dealing in mostly handicrafts, fair trade become somewhat of a fad which many people viewed as more of a student political movement. In the 1960s and 70s, the Fair Trade movement looked for various products to sell, but it wasn't until the 1980s that the movement started turning it's focus to agriculture. Finally, in the 1990s, a labeling initiative was born which allowed for the products to be sold in more stores and it allowed for distributers to track the origin of their product and see if this new type of trade was helping those at the beginning of the line (the producers, farmers, workers).
Like buying organic or buying locally, fair trade is not just about the product you receive, but how it benefits those who produce it. It's a label that allows consumers to know they are buying a product that is environmentally friendly, gives the producers of said product a fair wage and better living conditions, and that has an important and direct impact for the better on those who produced it and the community in which they live and work.As far as flowers are concerned, buying Fair Trade flowers contributes to the well-being of flower workers around the world and the community they live in. Not only are workers paid higher wages, but a portion of every purchase goes directly into a community development fund that the community decides what to do with (i.e. scholarships, housing, loans, etc). In terms of the environment, buying Fair Trade certified flowers increses the use of natural pest controls (instead of harmful chemicals) and reducing water and energy use. This, by extension, increases the quality of the products.
Where can you find Fair Trade flowers? Whole Foods sells them with their Whole Trade seal which guarantees that their floral products are grown according to strict criteria for ethical trade and earth-friendly farming.
