We’d been using fair trade coffee and fair trade sugar for many years in our home kitchen, but had never thought of actually using these products on an industrial level until one evening watching CBC tv’s The Hour we learned about Fair Trade chocolate. The two most important things that caught my attention were that Fair Trade cocoa beans are not picked by children nor sprayed with pesticides.
In passing, I asked Greg why we weren’t using Fair Trade ingredients in our business, he replied that sometimes we did, but he hadn’t really thought about it. Discussions ensued and we realized that we were going to an awful lot of trouble to find great quality chillies in countries where Fair Trade was probably already working and we could save ourselves a lot of trouble by letting them do the work.
We were wrong.
When I contacted the Fair Trade Certification board, FLO-CERT GmbH in Germany I learned that there are currently no standards set and no market for Fair Trade chili peppers and in fact the reason for this is because nobody with the expertise required was yet involved in the Fair Trade movement.
Well, we use several thousand pounds of chillies a year, so in my eyes, there certainly is a market for them and we’ve already established standards for the peppers we use, so I took the leap. I volunteered Brooks Pepperfire Foods Inc. to source peppers for Fair Trade.
Well, I quickly learned that every country has a regional board called TransFair. Here, in Canada, it’s TransFair Canada, in the US, it’s TransFair US, well, you get the idea. I also learned that the reason that each country has it’s own regional board is because of regional government import rules differing. I also learned that in order for someone to sign on to Fair Trade as an importer, they need to be sponsored by their regional board.
So, I contacted Rob Clarke, the Executive Director of TransFair Canada and told him I wanted Fair Trade peppers. Some discussions ensued and lots of learning began, and several months later, here we are, well on our way to creating Fair Trade standards for chili peppers, registering farmers and creating a market.
I’ve spent a great deal of time studying the prices at which other vendors are selling peppers. I’ve learned more about pesticides than any woman has a right to know and learned that there is a serious need for fresh clean peppers year round. It’s a daunting task infiltrating a well-established market with produce that surprisingly has never been available, even though there is a huge demand for it.
So far, I think the most exciting part of the entire project is discussing the opportunity for certification with the farmers. Explaining to them what is possible for their future and how Fair Trade is going to benefit not only them, but their families and employees as well.
We’ve run into some pretty scary situations already in sourcing our peppers. In some countries political unrest becomes an issue when we’re trying to get peppers out of the country, we’ve actually been told that armed guards are required to get the peppers to the airport.
What is so moving about the entire project is what can happen with the social premium that the fair trade farmers will receive for their peppers. As buyers, we are expected to work directly with the farmers to develop commercial relationships, trust and mutual support. We are expected to adhere to what is an extensive list of criteria established by FLO-CERT GmbH.
We buy a lot of peppers for our own needs over the course of a year and because we have to source fresh peppers all over the world it isn’t much of a leap for us to source the same peppers for Fair Trade.
After all, the questions we need to ask for ourselves seem to be the same questions we need to ask for Fair Trade. We are expected to give the farmer a fair price for their commodity and that price point provides a living wage for the farmer. In addition to the price, we offer a commitment to developing a long term business for the farmers so they will be capable of future development and investment in their farms.
They in turn agree to provide good working conditions for their employees, and ensure safety procedures and adequate health standards for all workers. In addition, farmer/producers must employ democratic working processes. The democratic standard ensures that democratic decisions are made concerning how the fair trade premium will be spent.
Fair Trade generally helps promote human rights, especially those of women, children and people with disabilities and as the local situations improve, the farmers are expected to continuously improve upon these standards.
As we have announced our intent regarding Fair Trade, many people have asked us how this impacts local farmers. Fortunately, it’s not just about where we buy our peppers (or other ingredients), it’s a way of life.
Fair Trade isn’t about giving farmers something to which they are not entitled. It is about justice.
We’re going to buy peppers to make our sauces and in helping get these commodities fair trade certified we can empower farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty.
This article is the copyright of Tina Brooks and is published here with her permission. If you would like permission to use this article or parts of it, email Tina Brooks.
Commerce Équitable
Sur le sujet du commerce équitable par Tina Brooks (traduit de l’original posté à The Hot Zone Online Blog http://www.thehotzoneonline.com)
Ca fait longtemps depuis qu’on utilise du café et du sucre équitable chez nous. Mais, nous n’avons jamais pensé utilisé ces produits au niveau industriel qu’un soir, ecoutant une émission au télé, nous avons récu un leçon sur le chocolat équitable.
Les deux choses qui m’ont attrapé le plus etaient que les graines de cocoa équitable ne sont pas cuillis par les enfants et elles ne sont jamais arrosés avec les pesticides.
En passant, je demandé à Greg pourquoi les ingrédients équitables ne figuraient pas dans nos affaires. Il m’a répondu que parfois nous l’utilisons mais ce n’etait pas tous régulier.
Eu boy, qu’on avait tort!
Quant j’ai contacté l’organisation de certification du commerce équitable, en allemagne, j’ai appris qu’il n’y avait pas encore des standards ni un marché pour des chillies équitable.
Nous utilisons plusieurs mille livres de piments par années, alors, quant à moi, il y a grand besoin.
Le commerce équitable n’a pas comme raison d’être de donner aux fermiers quelque chose auquels ils ont pas droit. Il s’agit de la justice.
Nous achetons nos piments afin de faire nos sauces piquantes et les utilisons pour enrichir les fermiers et leurs employés.
En fin de compte, c’est toujours Les Aliments Brooks Pepperfire qui fixera le prix et ceci ne serait pas controller ni influencer par Transfair ni par FLO-Cert.