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LFTN's blog
LFTN works to create connections
Submitted by LFTN on Mon, 2006-09-25 05:03.It's an exciting time for the Local Fair Trade Network. We've been in greater contact with the rest of the domestic Fair Trade movement, leading to some changes in strategy and a re-focusing on our essential: bringing people together to create Fair Trade.
This summer LFTN hosted a visit by the Agricultural Justice Project, the group that has put together the draft of standards for domestic fair trade that we based our Pledge on. The AJP are working with two of our member co-ops and several farmers in a pilot project towards a certified domestic fair trade label. Because AJP now plans to have certified products from these farms in stores in 2007, we agreed to suspend our own labeling project and instead focus on growing participation in the Fair Trade system from people in our region, including providing support for AJP's pilot project.
North American Domestic Fair Trade Movement Builds Steam
Submitted by LFTN on Fri, 2006-10-20 06:49.If you haven't heard, there's a domestic fair trade (DFT) movement underway. Over the last decade, due to the successes of the organic and international fair trade movements, many non-profit organizations and individual producers and retailers have taken steps towards developing social justice standards for domestically produced goods. Finally, those individual movements started meeting one another and working together towards developing a cohesive set of DFT standards. In August of 2005, the first annual Domestic Fair Trade Working Group (DFTWG) met in La Farge, Wisconsin. This historic event set in motion what is becoming recognized as a powerful force working towards transforming our industrialized corporate food system into one of fairness, cooperation, and sustainability.
LFTN Helps Organize First Farm Worker Conference on Fair Trade
Submitted by LFTN on Fri, 2006-10-13 08:10.LFTN is proud to be part of a working group organizing North America’s first meeting of farm worker groups on the topic of Fair Trade. The conference is tentatively set to take place in April 2007 in Owatonna, MN, home of Centro Campesino, the Upper Midwest’s only farm worker-run organization.
The idea for the conference arose at the Domestic Fair Trade Working Group meeting in La Farge, WI this August. This was the first major meeting of the domestic Fair Trade movement to include participation by multiple farm worker groups. While the farm worker representatives saw the incredible potential of a Fair Trade system to improve their members’ lives, they felt that they needed to consult with their members and broaden the participation of organizations in order to be truly equal partners.
