Fair Trade in the News

10/28/08 | Starbucks, TransFair USA and Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International Announce Groundbreaking Initiative to Support Small-Scale Coffee Farmers
Starbucks to Double Fair Trade Certified™ Coffee Purchases, Becoming the World's Largest Buyer of Fair Trade Certified Coffee as Part of Starbucks™ Shared Planet™. Read More >

9/29/08 | First Ever Fair Trade Certified Cupping Competition and Auction in Brazil
Don’t miss the excitement of the first ever Fair Trade Certified Cupping Competition and Auction held October 24th in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Read More >

9/24/08 | Bringing the Fair Trade Certified Message to World Leaders
On September 23-26, in New York City, TransFair USA CEO Paul Rice participated in the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. (Clinton Global Initiative). Read More >

9/23/08 | The Growth of Fair Trade
ABC's "Money Matters" interview TransFair USA's CEO Paul Rice (ABC News). Watch Video >

July/August 2008 | To Ecuador, With Love
TransFair USA board member Michael Conroy gives the Utne Reader a tour of Fair Trade Certified Flowers . (Utne Reader Online) Read More >

March 2008 | Results of the First Annual Axiom Business Book Awards
TransFair USA board member Michael Conroy has been awarded an Axiom Business Book Award for his book Branded!: How the Certification Revolution is Transforming Global Corporations. Read More >

2/13/08 | A Dozen Fair Trade Roses for $25 in Pasadena
Think socio-eco friendly flowers are expensive? Not if you take advantage of the Valentine's Day special happening at Pasadena's Ten Thousand Villages... (Los Angeles Times Blog) Read More >

2/12/08 | Valentine's Day Gifts Must Be Politically Correct These Days
There was a time when it was politally correct to hand your loved one a valentine, a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers and, perhaps, a bottle of perfume on Valentine's Day. (USA Today) Read More >

2/9/08 | He Shops, She Shops
Two columnists debate how to take romance back-to-basics without being cheap. (The Wall Street Journal) Read More >

2/9/08 | Pick something different for this Valentine's Day
When lovers head out next week to select Valentine's Day roses for their mates, Oakland-based Transfair USA is encouraging them to choose a different kind of rose - the kind that empower the workers who produce them. (Oakland Tribune) Read More >

2/1/08 | A Rose is a Rose is Not a Fair Trade Rose
Nothing says love like a bouquet of chemicals that hurts the health of poor Latin American and African women. (San Francisco Magazine) Read More >

February 2008 | How to Buy Fair Trade Coffee
You've heard the term 'fair trade' but do you know what it means? Organic food expert and environmentalist Anna Lappe explains why she believes it's important to buy fair trade coffee, and how to find it. (Howdini.com) Watch >

February 2008 | Starters: Organic Dark Chocolate
Who can say no to top notch dark chocolate? And when you buy the organic version, it's the ultimate feel good food. (Bon Appetit) Read More >

1/09/08 | Taster's Choice: Trader Joe's organic hot chocolate takes the chill off
The Trader's hot chocolate did so well that it won a spot in the Taster's Choice Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed on products that earn 80 or more points out of a possible 100 in a blind tasting. (The San Francisco Chronicle) Read More >

1/7/08 | Giving Economic Aid to Slow Immigration
Philanthropists, Fair Trade and affinity groups fund projects in Mexico, Central America (San Francisco Chronicle) Read More >

1/1/08 | The 2008 Social Capitalist Awards: Top-Performing Nonprofits
In 1990, Paul Rice started Nicaragua's first coffee export cooperative - and he figured out that consumers would pay more for "products that also make a difference." (Fast Company) Read More >

12/01/07 | 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics
Ethisphere Magazine, the quarterly publication of the Ethisphere Institute, has named TransFair USA CEO Paul Rice as one of their 100 most influnetial people in business ethics. (Ethisphere Magazine) Read More >

10/22/07 | Sugar Industry Embraces US Fair Trade Movement
Sugar is the latest product to join the U.S. fair trade movement as the global cane industry tries to emerge from a long history of labor and environmental abuses. (Dow Jones News Wire) Read More >

10/15/07 | High Crop Prices May Delay Move to Organic
Anecdotal evidence suggests soaring prices for conventional crops could slow the movement toward organic farming. (USA Today) Read More >

10/02/07 | Fair Trade in Bloom
According to Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International, a group of fair trade certifiers, consumers spent approximately $2.2 billion on certified products in 2006, a 42 percent increase over the previous year, benefiting over seven million people in developing countries. (The New York Times) Read More >

09/26/07 | Bill Clinton on Martha Stewart
Bill Clinton talks about making a difference in everyday choices, like buying Fair Trade Certified coffee, with Martha Stewart. (The Martha Stewart Show) Watch Video >

09/24/07 | Virgin Atlantic Goes Fair Trade
Virgin Atlantic is pleased to announce that it's now offering Fairtrade tea and coffee to all passengers. (Easier Travel) Read More >

09/18/07 | A little more at Tully's for a cup that composts
Starting Wednsday, all espresso drinks sold by the chain will use only organic, Fair Trade Certified coffee beans. Those beans will cost the Seattle company 17 to 20 cents more a pound than it has been paying. (The Seattle Times) Read More >

09/01/07 | Fair-Trade Coffees: The Controversy and the Cup
Out of the twenty-four bona-fide, TransFair-certified coffees we cupped, eight emerged with ratings of 90 or higher. Furthermore, the over-90 crowd included a wide range of coffee types and origins... (Coffee Review) Read More >

08/09/07 | Fair Trade Banana Push From U.S. Consumers Targets National and Local Grocery Store Operators
Consumers are being organized to pressure grocery store operators to make Fair Trade Certified bananas more widely available. (EarthTimes) Read More >

08/01/07 | CNN Inside Africa: A fair deal for farmers
Through quality initiatives, cutting out middlemen, and growing consumer pressure for Fair Trade Certified coffee, African coffee farmers are finding ways to receive better prices for their harvests. (CNN) Watch Video >

07/26/07 | Deciphering markets' new eco-friendly labels
As the growth of green products outpaces the labeling systems, there have been many attempts to create well-known labels, but it can take a huge, well-known organization like the federal government to make a successful program. Jen Boulden, co-founder of IdealBite.com shares some reputable certifications that let you know a product is environmentally sound. (MSNBC.com) Read More >

06/28/07 | The Future of Fair Trade
Host Leif Utne talks to a student activist promoting Fair Trade; a spokesperson from TransFair USA, the group that certifies Fair Trade products in this country; and two companies that are pushing the movement in new directions - Oké USA, which imports Fair Trade fruit, and Fair Trade Sports, which imports soccer, volleyball, rugby and other sports balls. (Utne Reader Podcast) Listen >

June 2007 | Top 10 Ways to Green Your Spending
Buying fair-trade-certified products helps ensure that impoverished third-world producers pocket their rightful share of the profits, not watch their hard-earned funds get whittled away by predatory middlemen. (LiveScience.com) Read More >

05/22/07 | Serving an ethical cup of coffee
The Fair Trade label is a guarantee to consumers that the farmer received a fair price for the harvest, the employees work in safe conditions, and the crops are grown using environmentally sustainable practices. (The Press-Enterprise) Read More >

04/22/07 | In Brooklyn, Hipsters Sip 'Fair Trade' Brews
Fair trade is gaining in popularity (The New York Times) Read More >

04/15/07 | Fair Trade, Fair Share
A rising tide of public awareness is lifting fair-trade goods into the mainstream. (The Courier-Post) Read More >

04/07/07 | Thinking Out of the Box
How African cocoa-growers are moving upstream into chocolate (The Economist) Read More >

04/05/07 | Al Roker on Fair Trade Coffee
Food Editor Phil Lempert teaches Al Roker and Ann Curry about Fair Trade, organics, and how to pick the perfect bean. (Today Show) Watch Video >

04/02/07 | Big Vision Podcast with Paul Rice
Britt Bravo of Big Vision interviews TransFair USA CEO Paul Rice about the impact, challenges, and future of Fair Trade. (Big Vision Podcast) Listen >

03/01/07 | That's a Fair Trade
With Fair Trade Certified (FTC) coffee quality and consumer awareness on the rise along with an overall demand for specialty coffee and thically sourced goods, FTC coffee is poised for explosive growth in the coming year. (Specialty Coffee Chronicle) Read More >

February 2007 | Making Trade Fair For Africa
African farmers and artisans are gaining a powerful voice, living wages, and the ability to improve their lives and communities through Fair Trade. (Co-op America Quarterly) Read More >

02/14/07 | Fair Trade is Getting Sweeter
Divine Chocolate is part-owned by cocoa farmers in Ghana, it's Fair Trade Certified - and now just in time for Valentine's Day, it's available in the States. (Marketplace - American Public Media) Read More >

02/01/07 | The Bitter Truth About Chocolate
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Hershey's kiss, and yet a celebration is hardly in order. Why? Because with each bite, we are reminded that most chocolate sold in the U.S. comes from cocoa farms where farmers work in unsafe conditions, receive below poverty wages, many of them children under 14 years old who are forced to work and denied education. (TreeHugger) Read More >

01/30/07 | Send love and save the world
To showcase undying devotion alongside your altruism, here are some Valentine's Day gifts with good deeds attached: organic flowers, fair-trade chocolate, diamonds that help remove land mines, and a perfume whose maker frets about global warming. (Associated Press) Read More >

01/27/07 | Ghana: The benefits of Fair Trade
Ghana produces fourteen percent of the world's cocoa, yet its farmers receive a small percentage of the revenue made by Western countries when they sell chocolate bars. In a bid to boost their income and cut out the middle man, farmers in Ghana have begun to sell their cocoa in local Co-ops to make sure it's traded fairly. (Reuters Television) Watch Video >

01/25/07 | Excellence in a cup
ONE morning last month in an airy hall at the Federal University of Viçosa, Brazil, the only sound to be heard was a chorus of zestfully inelegant slurping. Twenty-four black-aproned judges were wielding their distinctive tasting spoons at the Cup of Excellence competition, searching for the country's best coffee. (The Economist) Read More >

01/10/07 | The banana's appeal extends to the Fair Trade movement
Walk into any grocery store -- even a convenience store -- and the first thing you're likely to see is a display of bananas, sometimes on a rack close to the entrance, seductively within easy reach. Easy enough for 85 percent of American households to buy the bright yellow fruits. (The Boston Globe) Read More >

01/05/07 | Fair trade advocate Equal Exchange goes retail
Massachusetts-based Equal Exchange, a nationwide cooperative specializing in fair-trade coffee, tea and chocolate, opened its first retail cafe in the country - in the state of Washington. (Sustainable Food News) Read More >

Jan/Feb 2007 | The Future of Fair Trade Tea
In ancient China, according to legend, the finest teas were harvested by white-gloved virgins using golden scissors. Labor practices have evolved, but the nature of the work hasn't: Tea production today requires a low-wage labor force. (Utne Reader) Read More >

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