North American Domestic Fair Trade Movement Builds Steam

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.

The original working group was comprised of the high profile groups such as Equal Exchange, Organic Valley, Rural Advancement Foundation International–USA (RAFI-USA) and the Organic Consumers Association, as well as regional organizations like the Local Fair Trade Network and the Wedge Community Co-op. The working group discussed issues of living wage, family farms, farm worker rights, etc. with the intent of constructing principles under the declaration of “health, justice, and sustainability.� At the end of the meeting, with principles in tow, DFTWG broke off into subcommittees each with their own missions to spread the word about this exciting new endeavor.

Throughout the year leading up to the second annual DFTWG meeting in 2006, outreach efforts occurred at different conventions around the country. At Natural Products Expo East, the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference and the Consumer Cooperative Management Association Conference, to name a few, new contacts were made and support was garnered for the movement and new members were added to the general DFTWG assembly.

Occurring simultaneously to the outreach and educational efforts, different Fair Trade initiatives started to take shape. RAFI-USA, with its Social Justice in Agriculture pilot program partnered with LFTN and the Wedge to locate farmers and food co-ops in the Midwest to test the market realities of their domestic fair trade standards, with retail products available in spring of 2007. On the east coast, a monumental partnership between Equal Exchange and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives birthed the creation of domestic Fair Trade pecans, ready for retail shelves within the year. Finally, after meeting up at the first DFTWG meeting, Fair Deal, a domestic fair trade initiative out of Canada, partnered with Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps to also develop domestic fair trade products for retail sale.

And now, in the aftermath of the second Domestic Fair Trade Working Group meeting in August, the movement is officially here to stay. With almost twice the turnout of the first meeting, including more representation by farm worker organizations and individual farmers from around the Midwest, it is apparent that there is momentum behind domestic fair trade. The movement is hard to contain as it is already taking shape through the various side projects developed out of partnerships made within the DFTWG.

But it will take more than non-profit organizations and well intentioned retail companies to change an entire food system; this movement necessitates the dedication of consumers, farmers, retailers and farm workers alike. Without the buy-in from consumers, the chain of domestic fair trade is broken, with or without the DFTWG. Local Fair Trade Network will act as a clearinghouse for the numerous developments unfolding around domestic fair trade throughout the U.S. and abroad. All that is asked in return is that constituents (farm workers, farmers, retailers, consumers) share their thoughts and ideas, so we can speak for you at future DFTWG meetings.