The low price of Fairtrade

So how is the recession effecting the cost of Fairtrade ?

In 2005 Robert Roberts Fairtrade Roast & Ground DeCaff was €4.20 in Tesco Ireland. Today its €3.52. Great for the growers who still get the 'fair price'.

This week Superquinn have Cafe Direct 100g Fairtrade Instant for €3 instead of €4.


In Tesco Ireland its €3.99, BUT Tesco also have their own Fairtrade Instant at €2.29. That's over 40% less.
And that same Tesco Fairtrade Instant was €3.49 in 2005.

So, more great news for growers, because they are not effected by lower retail prices. So don't worry about them ! Its all good news for them really. And as the empty shelf in Superquinn shows, things are looking good for Fairtrade even in a recession.

Sainsbury Fairtrade Cafe - for Ireland ?

The Fairtrade thinking in UK is so much more developed than here in Ireland. Sainsbury has a rather tasty Fairtrade brownie, and chocolate cookie just made for its cafe. Nice ! We tasted both, then we went to the CoOp whose Fairtrade chocolate brownies come in neat bite size pieces for sharing. And it was good to see many more small towns committed to Fairtrade. We have a plan to bring a lot more than Fairtrade brownies to Ireland and beyond, but we have to start somewhere !

What's next at Wish4 Fairtrade ?

Have a look at a brief intro presentation about Wish4 Fairtrade...
http://www.slideshare.net/wish4fairtrade?type=mypage

A Taste of the World to Come !

New Fairtrade Products Approved

Today Wish4 Fairtrade received approval for its 1st 5 products. As well being Fairtrade licensed, the recipes are 'natural', made with NO artificial colours or flavours. So now we grown ups can enjoy natural Fairtrade toffees, mints and fudge for the first time !!

While Fairtrade is critical to growers of our basic food needs, here's something that's at least as critical to all of us

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:HdDrfAxCZOQJ:transitionculture.org/2009/05/04/coming-soon-the-international-premiere-of-in-transition/+transition+culture+premiere&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ie

Its the trailer for a new film 'In Transition' which shows how real communities are finding practical ways to deal with transitioning from fossil fuels to low carbon living. World premiere is May 23rd on-line.....check it out..

Fairtrade drinks take off at airport

Fairtrade Orange Juice has landed at Cork Airport. That's progress. Sadly you have to be a passenger in the duty free shop, but in time who knows. Yesterday Fairtrade Mark Ireland gave approval to the first product from the new Wish4Fairtrade company, so the launch date of July is looking good for both the confectionery and bakery ranges.

Tomorrow is World Fairtrade Day and Sister Delia has organised a FT breakfast in Bedfor Row, Limerick at 1030-1200. She is amongst the brightest stars in the irish Fairtrade universe.

Fairtrade Day for the World

Hopefully everyone is considering their plan to celebrate for World Fairtrade Day on May 9th. Bit confusing because this event involves more than just the 'food' (and cotton) part of the global Fairtrade movement, but any excuse to get us all to think about where our food and clothes come from is good by us.

Strange how we get up tight about the irish government printing national exam papers in the UK, but we don't mind that all the frozen food we buy has no country of origin at all on it !! Well, it might say 'EU' but then that includes raw material from asia, india, timbuctoo etc 'processed in the EU', so we don't think that should count.

Have a think....and as they say at google, 'do no evil'...