What is Fair Trade?
Ten Thousand Village near Rollins College
History of Fair Trade
By the 1940's, large multi-national corporations discovered they could save significant costs by purchasing agriculture products, such as coffee and tea, from developing countries. Large corporations could use their size to control the market and pay small farms incredibly low prices. Often farmers only received pennies for goods companies could then use and resell in developed countries at an incredible profit. Often the wages paid was not enough for farmers and their families to live off of, which lead to higher poverty and unsustainable farming practices in much of the developing world.
The first to bring light to this problem were not-for-profits such as Oxfam and SERRV International. Once the issue became recognized by the people, many for-profit companies began to start branding themselves as more ethical and environmentally friendly. Labeling initiates such as FairTrade International and Fair Trade USA were results of this, and serve to identify real fair trade items from products simply claiming to be.
Today, the issue of unfair wages and unsustainable farming practices continue. The focus of fair trade has moved beyond just coffee and tea and now includes certifying and labeling cocoa and chocolates, dried fruits, fruit juices, sugar, cotton, rice, honey, spices, nuts, flowers and wine just to name a few. There has also been much more emphasis on handicrafts which are often made by women supporting families. Stores such as Ten Thousand Villages (which includes one store located in Winter Park, across from Rollins College on Park Ave) specialize in fair trade jewelry, clothing and art.
How Rollins is Involved
Rollins College has been involved with solving sustainability issues for over 20 years. Going 'fair trade' was just a natural path to follow according to Ann Francis, Program Coordinator for the Department of Environmental Studies and Rollins Sustainability Program. With her leadership and the energy and enthusiasm of Rollins students, this college is on track to be a certified Fair Trade Campus by Spring 2013. Already Sodexo, our dining services, provides us with fair trade coffee, tea and sugar and is looking to expand to other food items. The Rice Family Bookstore, run by Follett, has multiple fair trade items for sale including fashionable clothing, and our gift shop in the Cornell Fine Arts Museum is already a fair trade certified vendor! To learn more about fair trade at Rollins College lease visit Sustainability Initiatives.
