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The Organic Food System

The Organic and Fair Trade movements have come a long ways in recent years. It is now commonly noted that Fair Trade is where Organic was 10 to 15 years ago. As such the Fair Trade system, both the international and the domestic have a good deal to learn from the Organic movement, while at the same time in many instances have the ability to piggy back upon much of the hard work done by the Organics movement.

The ability for the Fair Trade movement to do this is based upon the fact that Fair Trade standards today also come with very high environmental criteria, as such the majority of farmers who get Fair Trade certified also get Organic certified. Secondly some of the key players who set Organic standards and certify those standards now also have created Fair Trade standards and certify those standards, such as IMO, the Institute for market ecology.

An overview of the organic and domestic Fair Trade movement:

Primarily the movement towards Domestic Fair Trade has rallied from the Domestic Fair Trade Association, which seeks to “educate the public, to promote Domestic Fair Trade Principles, to endorse Domestic Fair Trade and social justice claims and labels, and to defend endorsed labels in the marketplace. The DFTA is not a certification organization, and does not aspire to own a particular label. Instead, the DFTA will provide an umbrella organization under which regional Fair trade labels can flourish by vetting independent labels according to the articulated principles”. They are “United for Health, Justice and Sustainability”.

Secondly the Agricultural Justice Project has worked to develop social justice standards for organic and sustainable agriculture. This project is a “homegrown domestic fair trade label that represents the gold standard for social justice in agricultural and food jobs, rigorous third party certification, and a system based on the experiences and input of the farmers, farmworkers and business owners themselves”

The AJP works to set the social standards and certify them, while the DFTA acts as a watchdog to ensure these standards are maintained, by bringing together a diverse array of stakeholders; both organizations have resulted as collaboration between associations and organizations; founding members are:

Furthermore both the DFTA and AJP have been supporter strongly by:

In Canada, the drive toward the creation of a domestic Fair Trade system is being led by the Farmer Direct Cooperative, which became the first company to market a domestically produced Fair Trade product in North America as of the summer 2010. The coop of family farmer’s, markets: flax, wheat, beans, peas, and lentils and uses the Fair Deal label. This label requires that a product be both organic certified and social justice certified (Fair Trade) based upon AJP standards.

Alternately, European based IMO: Fair for Life is the certifier of the “For Life” and “Fair for Life” label. In their words, "Fair for Life is a brand neutral third party certification programme for social accountability and fair trade in agricultural, manufacturing and trading operations." IMO, also a DFTA member, is piloting their standards in North America. IMO has also put in place a pay equity program which works to equalize the pay structure throughout each business.

Additionally, many other organizations and institutions work to promote and advocate for both Organic and Fair Trade principles domestically, such as:

  • The National Farmers Union, in which “members believe that the problems facing farmers are common problems, and that farmers producing diverse products must work together to advance effective solutions. The NFU works toward the development of economic and social policies that will maintain the family farm as the primary food-producing unit in Canada”
  • The Cooperative Development Association, which “works to build a cooperative economy through the creation and development of successful cooperative enterprises and networks in diverse communities (Particularly in the Northeast US)”
  • The National Cooperative Grocers Association, which helps unify natural food co-ops in order to optimize operational and marketing resources, strengthen purchasing power, and ultimately offer more value to natural food co-op owners and shoppers everywhere
  • The Organic Consumers Association, which is an online and grassroots non-profit public interest organization: campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade, environmental sustainability and other key topics
  • The OCA has also had much success with their launch, in 2010, of the Fair World Project, which works to promote Fair Trade in commerce, especially in Organic production systems, and to protect the term "Fair Trade" from dilution and misuse for mere PR purposes. They have had success with advocacy and boycotts.
  • The Fair Food Project, works to promote a socially just food system through the use of multimedia
  • Fair Food International, is a global movement of people passionate about facilitating change towards a sustainable food and beverage industry
  • While Green America works to encompass and harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.