Fair Trade Month opens with a question many of us are asking at the grocery store: how do I make my dollars count? To help answer this question, we sat down with Leslie Simmons, Senior Director of Fresh Goods Business Development at Fair Trade USA™, to talk about what the Fair Trade Certified™ label means on produce and flowers, and what it means for shoppers watching their budgets.
Looking to connect on produce and Fair Trade Certification? Find Leslie and more team members this week at The Global Produce & Floral Show, running October 14 to 16 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando. If you plan to attend, Leslie’s Q&A is a great preview of the conversations we’ll be having.
For people who only know Fair Trade Certified from the label, what does certification require of a produce farm?
It starts at the farm, with the Agricultural Production Standard. It includes more than 120 social, economic, and environmental protections, and it is built around continuous improvement. A farm first evaluates where it stands, and from there an independent third-party audit looks at how the farm measures up, and the farm needs to meet a set of criteria in its first year to earn certification and put the label on its products. Our standards set requirements for labor, pay, safe working conditions, and protections for local ecosystems. Once farms are certified, our program continues to conduct audits and work with farms to continue implementing standards and utilize Community Development Funds.
How do Community Development Funds work?
Every Fair Trade Certified product sold earns additional funds for the workers who grew it. Workers elect a committee by democratic vote, complete a needs assessment with our producer services team, and decide together how to use the money. They choose based on what their own community needs.
Which requirements surprise people the most?
The environmental ones. Most people think of workers’ rights and pay, and those are part of the standard. But it also covers water use, pesticide use, protecting biodiversity, protection against deforestation, and regenerative farming. The label means more than ethical sourcing and the treatment of workers.
How does certification differ between U.S. and international farms?
Our standard is set to meet many different sizes of farms, small, medium, or large. And we do see differences in certification in other countries versus the U.S.
When it comes to the U.S., there are a lot of farm workers who are trying to send money back to their families. A need for them might be offsetting some of the cost of living that they’re experiencing, something like a high grocery bill, or other support services to help them do their job. What we might see outside of the U.S. is something more community-based, around creating a system for clean water or housing projects. So, use of the Community Development Funds and application of standards can vary, but the needs exist no matter where you are.
Are there any misconceptions that you run into often about Fair Trade Certified produce, whether from retailers, brand partners, or consumers?
There are probably fewer misconceptions and more confusion. There’s so much value contained in our standards and in our program, and that can be hard to fully understand. There are so many stories of benefit and value underneath that label, and I think that’s where the confusion comes in: what does the label mean?
Going back to the environmental component, I don’t think people always realize that environmental protection is a key part of our standards. We have protections built in for nature and for enhancing regenerative practices. I would encourage people to dig in and look a little deeper into that value, if they’re curious.
Can you share a story about a farm or farmworker community where certification made a tangible difference? Maybe something consumers wouldn’t necessarily see just by looking at the produce aisle?
I think we see some of the most powerful examples of our program, especially when we have committed brands and companies that are certified for many years. You can start to see how the standard, the Community Development Funds, and the program overall really work together. If you have a company that is also super committed and value aligned to our certification and our program, that’s even better. It brings it to life in pretty powerful ways.
In the beginning, when a farm becomes certified, it may start off with one project. You might see a school bus transportation project that starts, and that’s one thing that makes an impact in the community. And then the next year they’re able to create a soccer field. They’re able to create a tortilla factory. They’re able to create medical or daycare support or scholarships and education, or a store is set up for more affordable goods that they can buy. You can create all of these different layered projects that become life-changing, community-changing, things that didn’t exist before.
And then, tangentially, you also have the skills that people have learned that they didn’t have before. There’s agency and connection that’s created within a community, how they come together around deciding where to make impact. There are so many powerful stories that I hope people will see and understand more about how our model makes change.
What should a retail buyer or brand partner understand about the model?
Well, I definitely think our Fair Trade model is complex. I think what I would want to leave people with or for them to consider is: if we simplify everything, a Fair Trade Certified product is always doing good. It always drives good, no matter what. In the simplest form, purchasing Fair Trade as a retailer, selling Fair Trade, always drives good in the world for people and for planet.
Now, if we go below the surface, it’s a lot of what we’ve been talking about. A Fair Trade Certified product drives education. It drives housing where it didn’t exist before. It drives medical programs that people really need and don’t have access to. Those things are all true, the physical form of the Community Development Fund. And it also drives empowerment and agency and skill building and learning. That’s the invisible impact, this current that runs underneath all of that.
The value of this is complicated, but it always exists, and you can feel assured by the program that there’s always good being driven forward, and impact being driven forward.
With budgets stretched, what would you tell shoppers?
In 2024, the produce program lowered its pricing, including Community Development Fund amounts, so the program stays affordable and can keep scaling. At the shelf, you can vote with your dollars for a more protected environment and a supply chain where workers are treated fairly. I hope more people see the label and stay curious about what’s behind it.
See us at the Global Produce & Floral Show
Fair Trade Month is a good time to look past the label, and the Global Produce & Floral Show is a good place to do it. If you’re a retailer, grower, or brand partner heading to Orlando this week, we’d love to talk with you about Fair Trade Certified produce and flowers. Find our team at the show and say hello.
Want to hear more about our produce program? Check out our recent AMA where Leslie answered your questions live: