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Meet the Faces of Fair Trade |
Sarah Belfort, Domestic Fair Trade Product Coordinator
 The "Faces of Fair Trade: Uniting the Global and Local" tour brought small-scale farmers from three different regions of the globe together to celebrate Fair Trade Month in October. Equal Exchange was one of the tour's sponsors, along with four other organizations that dedicate themselves to finding markets for small-scale farmers: Oké USA, The Wedge, PastureLand Co-operative, and Red Tomato.
The Wedge Co-op sponsored several days of events in the Twin Cities that culminated in a "buy-cott" of the farmers' products at area food co-ops. Then the tour continued to four cities in the northeast, with the farmers telling their stories and giving out samples of their bananas, apples and pecans at 10 public events held at universities, churches, cafés, and a food co-op.
Diann Johnson, a pecan farmer and member of Southern Alternatives Agricultural Co-operative, Equal Exchange's partner for fairly traded pecans, spoke about her decision to take part in the tour: "I left my husband and my farm at the busiest time of the year, because this [tour] is important," she said. "I'm here to share what affect ya'll have on my life. I got twin daughters, and they see the difference Fair Trade makes. They used to say, 'Ya'll just work, work, work, but we don't see no profit.' Now, one of them is still reluctant to help on the farm, but the other one sees the profit, and she says, 'Mama, I think this is something that I might want to do.'"
The tour provided many opportunities for farmers, activists, Fair Trade Organizations and consumers to build relationships with each other, and was also a meeting place for the international Fair Trade and emerging Domestic Fair Trade movements. Learn more about Domestic Fair Trade.
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