Thomas Baldwin looks at how the Fairtrade movement is celebrating a major anniversary this year.

THIRTY years ago this year, Green and Black’s Maya Gold chocolate hit the shelves, followed shortly by Cafedirect coffee, Percol coffee and Clipper tea.

They were the first products in the UK to carry the Fairtrade mark, a guarantee that the tea, coffee, cocoa and sugar farmers had been paid a fair price for their product. A response to the collapse of global coffee prices in the late 1980s, it marked the beginning of a movement that now supports over two million farmers and workers in 58 countries around the world.

As well as providing a fair living for the people who actually produce our staple products, through the additional Fairtrade Premium communities have benefited from education and training, schools and health centres, improved housing and infrastructure, environmental improvements, climate change mitigation and more efficient and sustainable production techniques – allocated according to the producers’ own priorities.

The Fairtrade Foundation’s ‘Fairtrade at 30’ report estimates that producers shared £1.7 billion in Fairtrade Premium payments to 2022.

It also estimates that in 2022 £190 million of Fairtrade Premium was generated worldwide, and £28 million in the UK.

Writing in the report, Michael Gidney, CEO of the Fairtrade Foundation, says: “The incredible public support for Fairtrade, which has made the Fairtrade Mark the best known, most trusted ethical label in the UK, has been an inspiration. Campaigners have consistently beaten the drum for Fairtrade in thousands of local groups across the UK, setting world records and discovering the joys of dressing up in banana suits along the way.

“Companies have responded in their hundreds, with Fairtrade certified products in their thousands, from cosmetics to cola and poinsettias to platinum, available in supermarkets, cafés and workplaces across the country. This is the result of many thousands of people, over many years, playing their part in making the UK a fairer place. You have built a lasting movement – thank you for standing with millions of others around the world, shoulder to shoulder with producers.”

The Fairtrade movement has been embraced enthusiastically by faith groups, including the Church of Scotland, since the beginning. Last year’s report of the Special Committee on the Ethics of Investment Practice noted that the Church of Scotland had been ‘at the forefront of getting Fairtrade products into mainstream markets’.

At local level many congregations have signed up as Fairtrade churches, pledging to use Fairtrade products in their own activities. Many also sell Fairtrade produce, including the group from Kinross Parish Church which sells thousands of pounds’ worth of goods every year, and in 2020 was the most successful Traidcraft outlet in the UK.

Marking the 30th anniversary of the Fairtrade movement in the UK, the Fairtrade Foundation has this year opted to move the annual Fairtrade Fortnight from its previous February slot to September 9-22. This, it says, will help give more time to make the most of activities and awareness around the campaign. It also coincides with Creation Time (September 1 – October 4), when churches are encouraged to have a focus on caring for God’s creation.

The theme of the Fortnight is ‘Be the change’, encouraging people to make an active choice to contribute to fairer, more sustainable production by choosing Fairtrade whenever possible.

Visit www.fairtrade.org.uk to find out more about the Fairtrade movement, Fairtrade Fortnight and 30 ways to celebrate 30 years of Fairtrade.