We love learning and think education is the key to growing the fair trade movement in our own community and beyond. While Four Corners specializes in selling products from fair trade cooperatives in other countries, lately we have been talking a lot about domestic fair trade (DFT). We would love to share our three part series on domestic fair trade, including an overview, our top picks for great products and a delicious recipe to share.
For an overview, we turned to our guest blogger and DFT expert, Sue Kastensen. Sue has been on the Board of Directors of the Domestic Fair Trade Association representing Dr. Bronner’s since 2005, when the company purchased her hemp body care line, Sun Dog. Sue’s commitment to fair trade convinced Dr. B’s to acquire ingredients from fair trade sources. In 2008, seeing the need for a publication to address the many facets of fair trade, both abroad and at home, she founded Fair World Project. Today, she continues her work supporting economic and social justice among the ‘most marginalized’ by focusing on prisoner reentry through the non-profit she created in 2009, called Fair Shake.
An Overview
All members of the Domestic Fair Trade Association (DFTA) and I firmly believe in economic justice both at home and abroad, and appreciate Milwaukee’s history of making the workers’ voice heard in the work environment through democratic business models such as coops and employee-owned businesses, as well as by supporting workers representation through unions and workers collectives. It was lots of fun to participate in Milwaukee’s Annual Fair Trade Crawl last month celebrating World Fair Trade Day to see this in action!
For those of you who might not be familiar with the DFTA, we are a national coalition of farmers, farmworkers, retailers, manufacturers, and NGOs united by a common vision: justice, health, and sustainability in our food and farming system. Domestic fair trade principles not only support family-scale farming, farmer cooperatives, just conditions for workers, and organic agriculture, they also honor the deep dependence those movements have on one another for success. Because the principles of domestic fair trade address issues throughout the full supply chain, they are an excellent benchmark for evaluating a wide variety of fair trade and social justice market claims.
The domestic fair trade movement is not limited to North America, in fact, it is a growing global movement with new and established organizations in many countries including India, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and more. The World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) recognizes the need to convene this growing sector of fair trade to ensure that the moniker and the principles are understood and shared by all who work for economic justice in their region. The Domestic Fair Trade Association is a new member of the WFTO and we are looking forward to participating in the global conversation to find a way to describe our unique and specifically domestic concerns within the global fair trade movement.
While our vision may be shared by many fair traders, verification of fair trade practices is no simple task. Fortunately, there are a growing number of resources to help shoppers navigate the tricky landscape of label claims to find products that reflect their values from seed to table. One such tool is the DFTA’s own evaluations of fair trade and social justice market claims.
The fair trade world is rapidly growing and changing as we consolidate, cooperate and distinguish the unique aspects of fair trade vs. other economic justice models. If you’re interested in staying up-to-date on the role the Domestic Fair Trade Association plays in the greater movement, please sign up for our newsletter!
Domestic Fair Trade Association Board of Directors
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