About responsible sourcing
Responsible or ethical sourcing ensures that our everyday products are made in a socially and environmentally sustainable way. This involves evaluating the practices of farms, factories, and other suppliers to ensure that they adhere to legal and ethical standards concerning labor rights, environmental sustainability, transparency, and community impact.
Fair Trade certification is often considered the Gold Standard within the broader responsible sourcing movement because of its rigorous standards, farmer and worker empowerment, and grassroots economic impact.
About Fair Trade USA
Fair Trade USA is a pioneering, award-winning social enterprise and the leading certifier of Fair Trade products in North America. Its mission is to harness the power of responsible business and conscious consumers to improve lives, protect the planet, and enable sustainable development for farmers, workers, and their families around the world.
Fair Trade USA
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Stories from the field
Santiago Rivera with his wife, Hermelinda, their daughter Yolanda, and granddaughter, Mariam.
Santiago Rivera is a fourth-generation farmer who grows coffee deep in the forested highlands of Nicaragua.
Santiago and his family face many of the same struggles, hopes, and dreams as the other 25 million coffee farmers around the world. Santiago grew up poor and had to drop out of school after second grade to work on his father’s farm. He has struggled to put food on the table his whole life. But Santiago and his neighbors joined a Fair Trade co-op in the 1990s and started to get a much better price for their coffee harvest. Year after year, life improved a bit more.
The first year, Santiago was able to buy a mule, which he named Bon Bon, to bring the heavy sacks of coffee down the mountain. Then, he and his community dug a well and brought clean drinking water into their village for the first time. Before long, Santiago was able to send his daughter Yolanda back to school, thanks to a scholarship fund set up with the Fair Trade community development fund. Yolanda was an excellent student and became the first young woman in her village to finish high school. She went on to college and then came home to work in the local health center.
“I go back to visit Santiago almost every year,” says Paul. “He’s such a powerful reminder that our daily purchases really matter and can make a huge difference in the lives of hardworking family farmers.”
A few of the brands that walk the talk on responsible sourcing
The impact of responsible sourcing
91%
of global consumers expect companies to do more than make a profit and work to address social and environmental issues
70%
of consumers would pay a premium for sustainable, environmentally responsible brands
84%
say they seek out responsible products whenever possible
20%
increase in revenues for companies that have sustainable and ethical sourcing practices
90%
would boycott a company if they learned of irresponsible or deceptive business practices
65%
of US consumers now recognize the Fair Trade Certified label