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Impacts and success stories
As mechanized agriculture and transgenic seeds overrun small scale traditional farms and indigenous resilient crops, the use of chemical pesticide and fertilizers is ever growing. The worst comes when small scale farmers try to use pesticides without proper equipment and training.
The photograph below, taken in Kenya by Éric St-Pierre, shows on the left coffee beans from a field where pesticides were badly used (and overused). On the right, perfect beans that grew naturally in an abandoned field with no pesticides!
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Photo: © Éric St-Pierre |
Fair Trade production standards forbids dangerous chemicals which could harm workers. Fair Trade cooperatives provide a training ground to help small farmers learn how to improve their agricultural techniques as well as grant them access to farming, drying and fermentation equipments.
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Fair Trade promotes the use of shade growth, namely using rows of fruit trees between fields, and traditional crop rotation, therefore increasing bio-diversity, naturally preserving soil nutrients, improving farmer's family diet and providing natural shelters for migratory birds.
Fair Trade provides quality assurance to the consumer and empowers local community to take care of their environment.
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