Fair Trade – Record Impact Announced for 2011

Fair Trade USA, the non-profit certification agency for Cafe Altura’s Fair Trade products, has released its 2011 Almanac (PDF) offering insight into the status of Fair Trade certified products and breaks down the scope of its efforts by product and country. We thought some of our customers would appreciate just how granular the data is and seeing how the numbers break down for each region.

In 2011, farmers and farm workers earned almost $22 million in community development premiums. These premiums, up almost 50% from 2010, are directed into programs that are democratically elected by the farmers and workers themselves and include: community infrastructure projects, healthcare, education and environmental conservation for over 1 million farmers around the globe.

Juan Arias, a member of the Fedecares coffee cooperative in the Dominican Republic shares his thoughts on the impacts Fair Trade business has on his community, “if it wasn’t for Fair Trade, we would probably not exist, we would not be able to remain coffee growers, working the land we love.”

There are 365 producer organizations that grow and sell Fair Trade Certified coffee globally, representing the largest product category with nearly one-third of all Fair Trade organizations. Of the $22 million generated for community projects, $17 million of that was from coffee alone. These figures clearly indicate the importance that coffee plays in the Fair Trade movement and its growth into other categories.