Frequently Asked Questions

Fair Trade USA certifies producers and groups of producers of all sizes, including farms, fisheries, and factories.

Fair Trade Certified products and goods span a number of industries including: Coffee, Consumer Packaged Goods, Dairy, Factories, Floral, Produce, and Seafood. We are committed to continuously innovating within new categories to best accommodate the needs of our partners.

Please contact us by filling out a form on our Get Started page so we can explore if certification makes sense for your product.

Fluctuations in world market prices hit workers and farmers the hardest, so some Fair Trade Certified products have a set Fair Trade Minimum Price (see our Prices and Premiums Search page for more details). This serves as a safety net for producers in particularly volatile markets when prices dip too low and creates real opportunities for improved livelihoods.

For every Fair Trade Certified product sold, a business or importer pays a Fair Trade Premium that goes into a worker-controlled Community Development Fund at origin. From there, a Fair Trade Committee, which consists of workers, farmers, and/or fishers responsible for the product, decides together how to spend the funds to improve their lives and meet their unique individual and collective needs, as well as the needs of their communities and environments.

To look up the premium amount for a particular product, see our Prices and Premiums Search page.

A Fair Trade Committee consists of a group of producers, workers, farmers, and fishers that foster communication and collaboration on important issues such as health and safety and community investments. Their main responsibility is to manage the use of the Fair Trade Community Development Fund. These projects are determined through a Needs Assessment (a framework that helps Fair Trade Committees determine how to scope and establish projects). You can learn more about the Needs Assessment process here.

Yes. Fair Trade USA understands that producers have worked hard to achieve these certificates, so we honor most FLO-CERT certifications.

No. The process of getting certified is a journey of continuous improvement, but there are minimum requirements that must be met prior to certification. Visit our Standards page to learn more.

Maintaining certification means complying with the Fair Trade Standard minimum requirements and increasing compliance each year to ultimately meet full requirements. This will be verified by passing an audit each year.

For a more in-depth picture of how fair trade works, visit our How We Work page. You can also visit Our Impact page.

Please visit our Get Started page and fill out the form that applies to you (Business, Producer, Philanthropic Supporter, or Consumer).