Happy Fair Trade Month!

October is my favorite month for lots of reasons - it's the first month I'm happy to admit it's fall, there's pumpkins in all my favorite foods (pies, breads, tortellini, lattes), the leaves are changing, it's Halloween, AND it's Fair Trade Month!  A whole 31 days to celebrate the sweet taste of fair wages and sustainable sourcing... mm mmm!

So what is "Fair Trade"?  Check out the official site for more details, but briefly: it's an independent certification system through the nonprofit TransFair USA that lets consumers know that a product has been created with fair wages, safe working conditions, and sustainable practices.  A good example is Fair Trade Certified coffee.  Typically, coffee bean farmers receive the lowest pay possible for their labor from a "middle-man" company, which then sells the beans to larger processing company at a much higher price.  That way, the middle-man's costs are low, and their profits are disproportionately high.  Fair Trade cuts out that middle-man so that the farmers receive a reasonable and just price for their hard work.  They prohibit the use of "harmful agrochemicals and GMOs" (that's Genetically Modified Organisms - plants whose seeds' genes have been altered in a laboratory) for employee and consumer health.  They encourage organic farming and sustainable practices like crop rotation, careful logging selection, and hand-picking fruits (instead of a machine shaking them off a plant).  Overall, Fair Trade certifies that your product was made in conditions that respect workers' lives AND your life, by offering you hand-picked, carefully grown products.

How do you know if a product is Fair Trade?  The US Fair Trade logo is seen on their website: A man in black and white carrying two baskets with the colors inverted on each half of him.  You can scroll down on this page of their official website to see the logo, as well as other popular Fair Trade labels and how they are different.  If there's not an official TransFair logo, it's not Fair Trade!

Where are Fair Trade products on Long Island?  You can use their Where to Buy tool on their website to enter your zip code and see what stores near you carry Fair Trade products.  You can find certified products in almost every health food store and even some mainstream stores.  Some popular brands that have certified products in their line are Starbucks, Seattle's Best Coffee, and Ben and Jerry's, and some stores they list on the "Where to Buy" page include Wal-Mart, Target, Sam's Club, Costco, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's.  I've also seen Fair Trade products in health food stores I've visited - Eden's Way in Massapequa, Jandi's in Oceanside, and Wild by Nature in East Setauket, Huntington, Hampton Bays, and Oceanside. 


Keep your eyes peeled for that Fair Trade logo, and have a happy Fair Trade October!  (click the link for a daily Fair Trade fact every day in October)