Fairtrade Fortnight happens every August and is an important time to reflect on the instrumental changes Fairtrade has made to communities in developing countries. It is also a time to recognise the struggles faced by our farmers who produce the coffee beans you love.

Coffee culture is very important to Australians. 23% of us choose to start every day with our favourite cup. We use coffee to form friendships, spark debates, bond with new people and share precious moments with our loved ones. We value a great cup of coffee.

However, the dark side of our industry is that many producers of coffee beans are subjected to poverty, abysmal wages, and unfair treatment by large corporations.

This is not a world we at Fair Coffee believe in.

We believe in a world where everyone is paid fairly, women are given the same opportunities as men, our environment is cared for, and everyone is treated equally. Through Fairtrade, we have been able to support our vision of an ideal world, bringing supplies, education, fair pay and gender equality to the communities our farmers live in.

Every cent you spend influences the world you live in. As a consumer, you have a lot of power. Every purchase you make decides what future our world will have.

What world do you choose?

How we make the world a better place for women

The choices we make in our everyday lives can make a difference to women all over the world. Gender equality is a leading issue in our time, and we believe in choosing a world that provides equal opportunities for women. Let’s stop focusing just on what happens around us, as gender equality is truly a global issue where every small step in the right direction is vital.

Fairtrade has shown us that women grown between 60%-80% of the world’s food. However, they own less than a quarter of the world’s farms. Even when they are farm owners, they do not get the same access to resources and education as male farm owners do. Research has shown that if female-operated farms get access to the same resources as the male-operated farms in developing countries, production increases by over 20%.

When we support women, women thrive. Therefore, Fair Coffee partner with Fairtrade. The systems and initiatives Fairtrade has implemented encourages female participation in the coffee industry, empowers women entrepreneurs and leaders and involves women in decision-making. Fairtrade helps to promote equal employment opportunities and ensures working women are paid a fair, liveable wage.

In December 2020, Fairtrade published a study that explored how women have benefited from Fairtrade certification. The study concluded that social empowerment of women had been improved by Fairtrade certification, as women were provided leadership training and protected by gender policy. Men were employed as allies for gender equality, helping to break down structural barriers to allow reform. Women’s projects and committees were being formed to provide resources to women, breaking down the hierarchy of gender, to great success.

Fairtrade’s Women’s School of Leadership is a program that focuses on empowering women producers. Typically, a year of training, topics like negotiation, human rights and income diversification are explored. Particularly important in countries where women traditionally held limited decision-making power, the program teaches new skills to advance their social and economic situations. Over 71 producer organisations have been positively impacted within 14 countries by this program, allowing the birth of many gender advocates within these communities.

In Kotobi, single mother Akouame has been positively impacted by Fairtrade’s Women’s School of Leadership. Explaining that she used to struggle with shyness, the school allowed her to see that she has ‘something hidden within myself, and I now draw on that power.’ This confidence has allowed her to save money, expanding into small business ownership and purchase two motorcycle taxis, securing a better financial future for her family.

We want a fairer world for women. What world do you choose?

Small choices WILL change the future

Climate change is an issue all of us are extremely worried about. A problem that often seems so big, it is insurmountable, it can be hard to realise that small acts do make a difference.

Our friends in developing nations are deeply affected by climate change. They are impacted the most by climate change, even though it is developed countries that contribute more to climate change.

It’s up to us.

We believe each one of us can do small, actionable steps to make a stark difference. It’s our duty to recycle, decrease our use of fossil fuels and use our purchasing power to support goods that are environmentally stable.

Buying Fairtrade products is a small, key step you can take to help preserve our precious environment. Whilst the Fairtrade logo is synonymous with fair pay, Fairtrade works extremely hard to make the entire global system equitable, for people and the planet.

By buying our Fairtrade products, you help us secure a cleaner future for all the world’s people. Through supporting farmers to meet strict environmental standards, ensuring soil and water quality, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Fairtrade works to support a greener future. Fairtrade also supports farmers who have been impacted by climate change, through educating on diversification, planting resilient crops and teaching new sustainable farming practices.

Fairtrade believes in sustainable farming practices, so that we can ensure our environment is taken care of for our children of the future. We support CONCADO in the Dominican Republic, whose mission is to improve the income and quality of life of cocoa producers and their families through supporting sustainable practices, aiding in marketing and quality improvement as well as developing their communities.

One of CONCADO’s programs is the Farm Intervention Program, which combats low productivity by replacing old plants, implementing agronomy, soil conservation practices and improving the quality of genetic matter. This helps ensure farmers' incomes and crop yields are sustainable for years to come.

This is a world that we want. We think you probably agree, and that might even be why you support our business.

Through buying Fairtrade certified coffee, you ensure that Fairtrade can continue to create initiatives that will help protect our farmers from the impacts of climate change. By preserving our environment, teaching sustainable farming, and ensuring the sustained profitability of produce, Fairtrade ensues the future of the world we love, for everyone who lives within it.

We believe in treating everyone fairly.

By partnering with Fairtrade, we choose to give people a fair deal. Our ingredients are purchased by paying the Fairtrade Minimum Price, which covers the sustainable cost of production or the market price, whichever is higher. Concurrently, we pay the Fairtrade Premium, which funds a communal account for workers and farmers who produce our beans. This account can be used as the farmers see fit to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions.

This extra income helps support production organisations like the Oromia Coffee Farmers' Cooperative Union in Ethiopia ensure farmers are paid the wages they deserve. 70% of Oromia’s net income goes directly back to the coffee farmers themselves. Oromia also funds crop collection services, storage infrastructure like warehouses, processing facilities and school buildings and infrastructure in order to ensure the wellbeing of the community within the farming community.

Fairtrade also invests in clean water, sanitation facilities, transport infrastructure and aids in covering the costs of staff, office running and processing. This lessens the costs of production for our farmers, guaranteeing them fairer pay.

Fairtrade supports the fair treatment of children. Karen works for the Youth Inclusive Monitoring and Remediation System (YICBMR) in the Philippines. She helps ensure sugarcane production does not involve any form of Gender Based Violence, like Child Labour and Forced Labour. Her motivation for doing this is because ‘I don’t want children and youth to experience what my parents had to live through.’ Karen’s role expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, as she also checked on the well-being of youth in her area. We believe that children should be treated fairly, that is why we are Fairtrade certified.

We choose a world where everyone is paid and treated as equal. We know you do too.

Choose your world.

Our products help support people like Akoumae, Patrick and Karen. We are focused on the real stories that are behind Fairtrade certified products, and endeavour to create better standards of life for our farmers.

You can choose your world.

This Fairtrade Fortnight, purchase our Fairtrade products to support equality for all, and help find initiatives like the YICBMR make a real difference in developing communities.

Our Fair Coffee World Blend 1kg is now in Woolworths. You can shop online now here.

For a list of our stockists, please click here.

Let’s work together to choose our world, one coffee bean at a time.