Fairtrade supporters conference, Aston University, Birminghem, Sat. Oct. 15th, 2011

It was a spacious venue, with warm sunny weather and 300 in the enthusiastic audience.

Harriet Lamb, CBE opened by noting that it is a difficult time for people but “We have to learn to dance in the rain”.
Our Guinness Book of records figure for the longest bunting has now been officially confirmed.
Unofficially she says the G20 should be entered for ‘the most platitudes on a single sheet of A4’!!
Kevin Rudd (Australia) declared “Markets can’t be fair”  Ethical views are becoming economic morality and moving into markets.    There are now 820 FT producer groups round the world.
‘Economics is the method but the aim is to change the heart and soul’  Margaret Thatcher.
Awareness of FT mark is now over 80% in the UK and 40% rise in FT sales in 2010 to over £1 billion.  However Archbishop Rowan has said that there is still a greater transfer of resources from poor to rich than vice-versa at the present.
A success story in India.  From 10 years ago, a co-op of 100 coffee farmers have grown to 3000, farming cashews and spices and coconuts and rubber to make flip-flops.  1 ton of product has become 100 tons.
FT gold is heading for its 1st anniversary on Feb 14th 2012.   A Bolivian woman miner went to Hatton Garden to see the place where the price of gold is set each day.
FT is a grassroots social movement.  Jo Human has moved from campaigns in Cumbria to join the board of FT Foundation. He said the big difference is that Fairtrade is half owned by producers and half by the labelling groups.   We have a long way to go as, for example,  only 15% of Peru coffee is sold on Fairtrade terms, but with Maltesers going Fairtrade 3 out of 5 leading UK chocolate brands are now Fairtrade.
2012 theme is ‘Take a step in 2012‘   All 40 Olympic venues will be serving Fairtrade products.
In a moving finale Harriet said that the reason we are working for Fairtrade is not about the activists, the shops, the producer groups but for the children, to be given an opportunity for a better life.

Allegra McEvely was awarded an MBE for promoting healthier eating and ethical sourcing in the UK.  In 2003 she co-founded LEON a healthy fast-food restaurant group.
World Food security group estimates that we need 50% more food by 2030 and 100%  more by 2050.   Concern about cutting of forests by big corporations for growing food and questions being asked about its provenance.  Also a problem of obesity, while many low income families seek the  cheapest food.
Allegra went to Malawi with Harriet to see groundnut (peanut) farmers who have their own brand.
Also tea farmers.  She saw a shelter round the hospital,  for use by visiting families built by FT premium.  She met Mary who is now able to build a solid hut thanks to FT premium.

Chris Sherlock is Sustainable Development Manager of the Co-op.  They now have 250 FT products and sales over £100m.  The Co-op have 7% of all supermarket sales in UK but 19% of FT sales and they enjoy working with producer co-operatives helping them to become more sustainable.  They aim by end of 2013 to have FT standards for every primary product in the developing world.
He and Renwick Rose from the Windward Islands presented the FT fortnight awards.
Next year the awards are not restricted to the Fortnight but for events up to the deadline of the end of July.  The theme is  ‘Taking a step for Fairtrade’

Next year, the supporters conference is on October 6th 2012 in London.

I attended the session on Social Media run by Adam Gardner.    Some people have found  Twitter and Facebook very useful and I have some details about them.   We already have a website but need to develop it.    I would like to work with a small group in Jersey on this over the next few months.

Over lunch I made several contacts that we may wish to invite to Jersey at some time

A well-attended seminar on the future of Fairtrade was  run by Viviene, a friend of Hazel Jones from Bradford on Avon and Toby from the FT foundation but mainly comments came from people in the room.
How can FT become more global and move into middle income countries.
FT is not very visible on the continent.
FT needs to move into the World Trade Organisation discussions
Which income groups brought about the 40% rise in UK sales last year
Are TRANSFAIR in the USA going their own way?
To get FT into school curriculum, need a co-ordinating teacher but can then impact several areas of the curriculum
Bradford and Sheffield Universties promote FT
A person from Somalia would like to get FT groups going in his country.
Some people in UK have set up a FT co-op to sell products sourced directly from developing countries.
The Trade Justice campaign is a real struggle to get going
FT schools campaign a growing area
Luton, a poor area, reached FT town status recently by engaging with every community in the town and explaining the ethos of FT over a period of some years.
Farmers in UK should unite with farmers in developing countries as they face the same pressures

Finally Toby was challenged to say what are the main policy areas that the FT Foundation are working on.

He said   1.  Climate change, adjusting crops grown to fit new weather patterns
 2.  Working  with smallholder farmers rather than large farmers
 3. Working in Brussels on policies for public procurement.

The final seminar on ‘ The future of food’ was chaired by Joe Human.
Renwick Rose from the Windward Isles said that they used to take food for granted but have had a rude awakening.  Now have a big import of food.   Bananas are both a food crop and an export crop and they need an export market.   The banana price war is hurting them.  Price of 1kg has gone from £1.12 to 55p in past few years.
Helen Browning, OBE is director of the Soil Association. She said that food is a window onto wider issues.  There is a strong need to keep food cheap.  She went organic 25years ago to try to get  her own house in order and was awarded her OBE for services to organic farming.  She gets ecological insights from the South. She said trade rules must be fair and the pressure for free trade resisted.
Judith Batchelar has been director of Sainsbury’s brand for 6 years.  Sainsburys are the biggest FT supermarket and aim to increase sales by 4 times by 2020 and to double their sales of local produce.  To reach these goals they want transparency in the supply chain.  50% of costs are agricultural, 50% management.   They want data available to all.    They believe science and technology have a role.
Barbara Crowther is director of communications and policy for FT Foundation. She said food is vital and a food crisis has been brewing for 30 years.  Price volatility a big problem for small farmers.  Big profits made by agribusinesses such as Cargill who hold 60% of the market.  The biggest player in the food market is Barclays Bank !!   Need to increase power of the smallholder as WTO has failed.   We need to value our food, which is more than just a commodity.

The panel then answered questions from the audience.  Here are some of the comments.
While farmers are encouraged to get the FT mark there may be good reasons for those who don’t have it. 

The mark will not be awarded to UK farmers who are in a very different situation to small scale producers in the developing world.
Quality of soil is more important than chemicals added.    There is a campaign for a healthy soil.
M-PESA the Kenyan money transfer system using mobile phones gets money directly to women.
In Mali, the crops are sorgum, maize and cotton. Harvest all comes at once so prices low.  Using the Fairtrade premium to build barns groups can store crops in barns till prices are higher.
In UK shoppers are getting more savvy, buy in food to cook rather than pre-prepared.
Farmers are competitive and need to work more closely with each ether and network more.
People are being empowered by FT.  Ft available incountry in Kenya and South Africa.  In Malawi groundnuts are being turned into high energy bars given to children in famine situations
Organic and FT are getting closer together
We need to broaden our horizons to include world peace and justice.

Ed Le Quesne