News & Events
June 11th, 2010 |
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The following article was featured in the Floral Marketing section of The Produce News, June 2010. Click here to view the original article.
BY JOHN S. NIBLOCK
Alaina Paradise is happy to go from zero to 90. That’s the number of customers her One World Flowers import and distributing company has attracted with its Fair Trade offerings in its first two years. The economic skies were cloudy when Ms. Paradise began operations in May 2008, but as she put it, “we could only go up.” Not only were times hard, but she was beginning a new company with a premium product yet to find a reliable niche in retail markets.
One World Flowers is a licensed importer of Fair Trade flowers from Ecuador and Colombia. The company sells them nationwide to supermarkets, co-op grocers, and retail florists who have customers looking for more than just green options in the floral department. “More consumers are becoming aware of the human rights issues surrounding the products they buy,” said Ms. Paradise, “and they’re learning to look for labels that take care of people as well as the environment.”
The Fair Trade label is what Ms. Paradise calls a “complete sustainability” label. It guarantees not only environmental protection, but also human rights standards. Components include controls on pesticide use, safe working conditions, and fair wages for workers. “A big part of the Fair Trade program is direct and long-term relationships between the farms and importers,” Ms. Paradise stated in a phone interview. “We work together in marketing initiatives, sales efforts and in daily operations.”
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May 31st, 2010 |
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Customers got free Fair Trade roses at City Market
The City Market / Onion River Coop in Burlington, Vermont recently delighted customers with an in-store promotion of Fair Trade Certified™ Flowers. By teaming up with One World Flowers, City Market gave away 100 free Fair Trade roses to customers who came in to shop. The roses each had a custom tag on them that educated customers about the benefits of Fair Trade for flower farms in developing nations.
“The promotion helped raise awareness of the Fair Trade flowers that we carry,” said James, City Market’s Produce Manager. “It’s a great way to promote a socially sustainable product around big floral holidays.” The increased awareness of the flowers translates into higher and more consistent sales at the store.
One World Flowers routinely supports Fair Trade flower promotional activities at retail customers’ locations to educate consumers and raise awareness of the availability and benefits of Fair Trade Flowers. For more information about special promotional activities, please contact the Marketing department at One World Flowers: (505) 489-1117.
Tags: Fair Trade Certified Flowers, Fair Trade Flowers, wholesale fair trade flowers, wholesale fair trade roses, Wholesale Flowers, wholesale roses
January 7th, 2010 |
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When you buy Fair Trade Certified products, you help families like this one, member of the CECOVASA co-op in Peru, hold on to their land.
You already know that buying Fair Trade is good for farmers and good for the earth, but here’s yet another reason to feel good about your Fair Trade purchases: by making traditional small-scale agriculture in the developing world more profitable, Fair Trade helps farming families stay on their land. As big commercial companies encroach on the land that was once farmed exclusively by small family operations, it becomes extremely difficult for these families to compete.
Fair Trade helps small farmers successfully participate in the global market by facilitating direct trade relationships. Importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating unnecessary middlemen and empowering farmers to develop the business capacity necessary to compete in the global marketplace. Additionally, Fair Trade provides farmers with the market information necessary to be savvy producers. The Fair Trade minimum price gives farmers market information, financial stability, and access to credit, all of which contribute to farmers’ market success.
With each Fair Trade product you buy, you help a family hold on to their home. What better reason do you need?
This post is reprinted from TransFair USA, www.fairtrademonth.org.
Tags: Fair Trade Certified, Fair Trade Certified Flowers, Fair Trade Farmers, Fair Trade Flowers, wholesale fair trade flowers
November 16th, 2009 |
No Comments By Alaina Paradise
“Now listen you rich oppressors, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you… Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the Lord Almighty. “ ~ James 5:1,4
The Bible is clear that God detests injustice and oppression. This verse from the book of James speaks of unfair treatment of workers who have earned their wages through hard work but are not paid. Unfortunately, this is an injustice that is happening all over the world, even today. Agricultural workers are not paid for their hours, they are forced into unpaid overtime, or required to reach outrageous harvest quotas before getting minimum pay. In many cases, women suffer physical or sexual harassment and abuse. The environment is polluted with harsh chemicals and fertilizers, and workers are not given proper protection from these harmful agents.
In contrast, Fair Trade is a powerful and practical model to help build economic justice, promote human rights, and support responsible stewardship of the earth. Fair Trade ensures that workers are paid a living wage, which is far beyond the minimum wage in most countries. Human rights are protected and guaranteed. Workers are able to report abuses and receive remediation through an overseeing human rights organization. In addition, the most harmful agrochemicals are banned from use and replaced with integrated pest management. In the event that a chemical or pesticide must be used, workers are provided with protective gear to prevent chemical poisoning, and proper precautions are taken to close the fields until it is safe to enter.
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October 10th, 2009 |
1 Comment This post is in response to an article about Fair Trade vs. Carbon Footprints written by Graeme Wiser on the EbioAnt blog. Click here to see the original post.
Written by Alaina Paradise:
I agree that the statistics in this post are very well researched; however the frustration about Fair Trade’s carbon footprint might be misdirected. As the owner of a Fair Trade licensed flower business, One World Flowers, I believe you missed two key points and one other consideration that’s more based on personal beliefs/values:
1) Sustainability is NOT an environmental concept only.
Sustainability also includes people and profitability, which you can read more about in “The Triple Bottom Line” by Savitz. If companies are not making money, they cannot be sustained. Also, if people and societies are leached of HUMAN resources, no business is sustained. Fair Trade is the best possible sustainable option for consumers when buying certain products. I won’t argue this for all products, but let’s take flowers for example.
In the United States, 70 – 80% (depending on which year and report you’re looking at) of all cut flowers sold in the market are imported from other countries. These countries include Ecuador, Colombia, Holland, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and even India. The 20 – 30 % of flowers produced within the United States could very well have a lower carbon footprint than those that are imported; however, they are only available in peak growing seasons.
My first point is this: What are consumers supposed to do 80% of the time; stop buying flowers all together? No! Fair Trade offers consumers a sustainable option for purchasing flowers in off-seasons. While they might not be the most sustainable carbon option, Fair Trade makes a huge impact in decreasing environmental pollution in foreign countries. It is also SOCIALLY sustainable because it creates jobs that pay living wages and provide human rights protections to workers, raising their quality of life, providing education, stopping poverty cycles, and putting food on the table for children of floral farm workers.
Your article stated that, “Fairtrade produce[r]s generally account for 1-20% of all sales in their product category in Europe and North America.” If the volume is so low, why attack Fair Trade? Bad form. Why not go after the companies who are doing nothing in the way of sustainability, and dominate 80+% of the market sales?
2) Carbon Reduction and Fair Trade are NOT opposed to one another.
As you said in your article above, “The principles of fair trade already discussed have touched the compassionate nerve of the nation and the supermarkets are exploiting it for all its worth. It’s a shame that with every ‘fair-trade’ item they don’t put a ‘carbon footprint’ label.” I’ll start by saying that if supermarkets were exploiting Fair Trade for all it’s worth, this world would be a much happier place for agricultural workers (over 90% of whom still work in non Fair Trade conditions), and all farms would be Fair Trade Certified.
There are many Fair Trade Certified companies who go to great lengths to offset their carbon footprint. Many donate to various Carbon Funds. Our company, One World Flowers, has office recycling programs, uses only hybrid delivery vehicles, and is powered for electricity by a wind farm in our state. We make very conscious choices to reduce our carbon footprint in various ways.
I would like to suggest that you take a less myopic view of Fair Trade as taking away from environmental sustainability, and try to view it as an integral piece of the sustainability puzzle. That brings me to my last point, which is more about personal beliefs and values.
There is much to do to improve this world we all call home. Being competitive and adversarial with one another is not going to accomplish anything, but rather tear us both down. True sustainability and health in this planet is only found where people and the environment are both well cared for. People function in societies, societies have economies, and economies need healthy businesses to be sustainable.
If you are committed to reducing Carbon Footprints, more power to you! If you are committed to other environmental causes, please give it all you’ve got! But please don’t forget that life is human, too. Our business is wholly focused on making business sustainable for people who have been abused, who live in depleted societies sucked of their resources, with failing and struggling economies as a result. We can’t do it all, but we’d like your support in doing what we can to make the entire planet a better place to be.
Tags: carbon footprint vs. fair trade, carbon vs. fair trade, Fair Trade Certified Flowers, Fair Trade Flowers, wholesale fair trade flowers, Wholesale Flowers
August 20th, 2009 |
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by Alaina Paradise
Fair Trade Certified flowers have been available in the United States for only two years, and are still not offered by most florists, grocers, or wholesalers. A large reason for this is the lack of understanding on what Fair Trade actually means, and how it’s different from the many different “green” labels that are currently available.
The Problem
Most of the Roses and other flowers sold in the United States come from outside our borders. In fact, over 70% of the cut flowers sold in the US come from Africa and South America. Workers on these floral farms are typically women and are often abused, paid unfairly, and forced to work outrageous hours to meet production quotas and keep their jobs. In addition, they are rarely given any protection from the many harmful chemicals and pesticides that are used on most farms. Because of these factors, the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of the floral industry in developing countries are astounding.
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September 25th, 2008 |
No Comments About 80% of the cut flowers sold in the U.S. are grown outside of the country. Workers on these farms are often cheated out of salaries, abused, and taken advantage of by their employers to keep costs low. Fair Trade Certification is a guarantee that the farms will receive a fair price for their flowers, workers are paid and treated properly, and the environment is cared for. Because of Fair Trade, communities can reap the benefits of global trade while building sustainable social, economic, and environmental business practices.
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