Observing Fair Trade Month, and why it means not taking the short-cuts

October marks National Fair Trade Month in the United States: a month dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of fair trade, and the promotion of buying and using socially and commercially responsible products. Despite the term’s ubiquity, its full meaning still eludes most of us, with the numerous fair trade entities adding to the confusion. What makes Fair Trade so complicated, and what does Fair Trade mean to Grow Ahead?

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Agroforestry, Cocoa, and what it means for farmers in Ghana

We can find cocoa in cuisines and traditions around the world. In spite of — or perhaps because of — cocoa’s widespread popularity as an ingredient and commodity, traditional cocoa farming is built on colonial models of extraction that exploit the land, farmers, and farm workers.

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International Coffee Day: Coffee, Climate Change & Small-Scale Farmers

This International Coffee Day we are focusing on one of the biggest challenges to coffee: climate change. Climate change is proving to be catastrophic for coffee growers, cutting the global area suitable for coffee growth in half. Due to habitat shifting & alteration, droughts and temperature extremes, Arabica coffee has been added to the IUCN…

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