LFTN: Applying Fair Trade Locally

by Hilary Johnson, Assistant Produce Manager & LFTN Steering Committee Member
in Sprout, newsletter of Seward Community Co-op

As Greg Reynolds, of Riverbend Farm in Delano, Minn., can attest, farming is not an easy life: “I have worked for $3 an hour farming and didn’t like it." He is not alone in identifying one of his biggest challenges in the market as “artificially low prices." In election years, politicians wax poetic about Minnesota’s rural roots and the plight of its small farmers. Some local activists, however, are looking not to the government for help but to consumers.

Inspired by the international fair trade movement, the Local Fair Trade Network (LFTN) formed in 2002 to investigate how fair trade could be applied in a domestic context. Organizers wanted to support small local farms with good environmental and employment practices.

International fair trade requires that workers be paid a living wage and be guaranteed safe working conditions. Consumers pay a little more for certified-fair-trade products, knowing that the extra money contributes to a better life for the producer. LFTN Coordinator Erik Esse says, “Local fair trade brings that model home, with the goal of strengthening local economies and bypassing the national corporate food system."

Certifying relationships between people is more complicated than certifying whether a farmer uses pesticides or not. A fair trade agreement between farmer and retailer includes guarantees of long-term relationships and above-average prices to farmers. As a fair trade employer, a farmer pays living wages and uses least-toxic products in the fields. But there are less tangible factors as well. Greg Reynolds, for example, feeds his workers and says that “everyone is free to take anything that we grow for their own use." He gives out year-end bonuses when he can, and hosts a year-end party at Auriga, one of his restaurant-customers. He has also helped out with his workers’ medical expenses. Reynolds, along with more than 20 other local, sustainable farmers, has signed a pledge of commitment to fair trade practices. The stakeholders in fair trade: farmers, farm workers, retailers and ethical consumers, democratically define these practices. To develop local fair trade certification, LFTN has partnered with the national Agricultural Justice Project. Several local farmers, their employees and co-ops, Seward Co-op included, are testing out the process.

Progress is steady, but there are still hurdles to overcome. Although the market share for fair trade is growing, convincing consumers to pay extra can be challenging in tough economic times. Esse explains, “The corporate food system provides artificially cheap products at the price of a living wage and respectful employment for the people who grow and harvest our food, and at the price of the long-term viability of the soil and the environment."

LFTN, a grass-roots organization, has committed to helping constituents beyond the certification process. In the coming months, LFTN will be helping farmers figure out how to cut costs and determine pricing. A new LFTN website will also serve as an interactive resource and forum—check out the current website at www.localfairtrade.org.

When justifying the low wages they pay noncitizen migrant workers, executives in the agriculture business say that American citizens don’t want to work on farms anyway. Farm labor is hard work, to be sure, and the “farms" from which these executives profit tend to be destructive to workers and the environment. But Greg Reynolds says that sustainable farming has its own rewards: “Sustainable farming tries to be productive and fit into the environment that we live in. When it works, and you can see that the soil is getting better–more organic matter, fewer weeds, better yields–it feels great." Add respect and a living wage to that, and you have a job worthy of any human being.