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Fair Trade gets own brand
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Co op stores are planning to roll out a full own brand range of fair trade groceries.
I set up their regional conference on the roll out of this (at my work) and its gonna be like tesco value but fair trade.
Shout it from the rooftops! fairtrade stuff doesnt have to be hard to find!
we still got waaay to go in the west on this issue but its a great boost foward
Market forces can make a difference:thumb:
I set up their regional conference on the roll out of this (at my work) and its gonna be like tesco value but fair trade.
Shout it from the rooftops! fairtrade stuff doesnt have to be hard to find!
we still got waaay to go in the west on this issue but its a great boost foward
Market forces can make a difference:thumb:
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Comments
A while ago it seemed everyone wanted to support our farmers and but British etc and now Fair Trade and dropping trade restrictions to developing world farmers is in flavour.
Which would people rather see?
And Toadborg I think if they start promoting high quality British produce via sustainable farming methods rather than the rubbish that passes for fresh food in the supermarkets, they might have a chance of making that campaign work. Farmers markets are becoming really popular again, so the impetus is already there....
We don't grow tea, coffee, sugar etc in this country.
fair trade should not exclude british farmers, sadly it seems to do so. Probably the big supermarkets are partly to blame, but we as consumers tend to want everything as cheep as possible. so well done to co-op.
I went veggie about 6 months ago but i was a bit concerned about taking away a market from british producers.
So i decided to buy stuff like honey and butter and stuff from the local (well, miles away actually) farm when me dad goes out there.
They used to do the nicest steaks.:D
('yes well im afraid that avenue of pleasure has been closed off' - basil fawlty.)
go have a look at your bag of sugar ...should say produce of uk.
Fair trade, organic and all that is all very well, but a lot of it still tastes crap.
Most organic stuff on the market is rubbish.
I buy fair trade coffee because the stuff is the best tasting on the market, not that much because its actually fair trade. I think a lot of organic producers need to up thier game.
Plus, what about the food miles that go into all this swanky fair trade stuff, veg that has covered 5000 miles plus to get to you, thats fantastic for the enviroment isnt it.
Try buying fair trade milk, OH, there isnt any, yet dairy farmers in this country are going out of business all the time.
The CAP needs massive reform and we need to help change British farmers from mass production of crap to better, sustainable farmers.
Thus meaning farmers get money for the area they grow, NOT the amount they grow. This means that they dont have to focus on output volume and can concentrate on quality.
My bag of Tate & Lyle doesn't say where it was produced. I'll take your word for it though.
We don't produce tea or coffee though.
And this will raise some tempers in here but to be perfectly frank I don't have a lot of sympathy for the farming industry. Problems such as BSE and the emergence of antibiotic-resistant germs are all the result of feeding cattle all sorts of shit and pumping poultry full of antibiotics- all of it of course in the name of greed and profits and without any consideration about the health consequences it has for all of us.
at the hight of the BSC problem there were so many suicides and attempted ones by farmers ...many turned to drink and lost their businesses ...many long marriages and ancient family and nieghborhood fudes errupted. the farmers were living in a hell that the townies couldn't comprehend.
the blame ...if it can be laid, should be at the doors of ici ...monsanto ...HMG.
when the big estates started to feed their cattle on this stuff and the antibiotics etc etc ...the weekly markets would show magnificent prices for his lordships cattle ...they were so healthy and happy and ...HEAVY. top quality through modern iprovement ...so dai the farmer and his brother ...jones the butcher ...had to keep up. but keep up in ignorance of they were realy doing.
the salesmen who travel the farms and still largely laying low in some areas!
there are guys out here who will shoot them ...and happily go off to strangeways for twenty years ...they consider it a price worth paying ...
I see some farmers partly to blame but as you have well pointed out Big Corporation had much more to do with and to profit from it.
As for organic food, don't understand how people can knock it. Organic free range lamb tastes fantastic and the fruit & veg, well... at least you're not putting chemicals inside you.
When you look at the way subsidies used to be handed out no wonder farmers used everything they could lay their hands on to increase yeild, that was the way the system worked.
As for organic stuff, I just find a lot of it isnt that good, its a bit limp and not that tasty.
And as for putting chemicals in my body, well, its not as simple as that is it. They dont have to be these foul cancer causing chemicals, just because its organic doesnt always mean its made on this tiny family farm, or that its actually better for you.
to produce amphetamine ...you practice organic chemistry. doesn't make amphetamine healthy for you.
organic simply means living or once living meaning ...your organic food could contain any form of carbon ...from coal to oil to petrol. ammonia is organic.
propper labeling and other controls are supposed to help us out of this confusion but some of the big companies always find a way of fooling you.
if possible ...drive out of town ...have a day out and buy from the farm. you'll get to know who's got the good reputations and bad.
you'll see the farm and the family and get a feel for whats right. great way of shopping.
Sustainable farming can include the use of some chemicals but they are highly regulated and used in the very minimal amounts.
It means looking after the enviroment, yet still using it intensively because we need to.
The problem is if we decide we arent going to support farmers here then we will have to import more. The controls on farming in other counrties are weaker, so we are just moving the enviromental damage elsewhere. Its better to keep it in the UK where we can control it better.
To do this we need clear labels and we need a big reform over the way we support farmers and the way we regulate the industry.
The average consumer won't buy it if it is too expensive, because they can't afford it.
I used to buy FairTrade tea, because it was only about 40p more than Tetley's- now it is more like £1.50 more, and awful as it sounds, I can't afford to spend the extra, no matter how deserving the cause. Many people can't.
If fairTrade is slightly more exepnsive, or the same price, then people will purchase it. The Co-Op are good at this- Free Range eggs are about 3p more expensive, and are packaged a lot better than battery eggs that they sell with huge labels warning that they are battery eggs.
Yes there are protectionist measures put onto the food market within the EU, and that does make it harder for Third World farmers. BUT, do they follow the same enviromental rules as we do? If they can prove they do then there should be no tarrifs. If they cant then they should have to compete unfairly.
Export tarrifs though should stop, it allows the EU to dump excess food on the Third World, its unfair, expencive and open to rampant abuse.