Meet the Farmers

Millions of people worldwide depend on the production, processing, and sale of produce for their livelihoods, incomes, and for food security. This includes many small farmers in the Global South.

Chocolate is one of the world’s favorite foods but growing cocoa is a hard task.

Shea butter, coconut, soya and olive oil make up a growing list of contemporary and unique Fairtrade certified products available on Canadian grocery and health food shelves. You can find them as single ingredient products like coconut milk, or as composite products like cosmetics, granola bars or ice cream.

Just as we are dependent on coffee to get through a hard day’s work, it is also the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product. Around 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods, however, many of the 25 million small holder farmers who produce 80% of the world’s coffee fail to earn a reliable living. 

Cotton is the world’s oldest commercial crop and one of the most important fiber crops in the global textile industry.

The cut flower trade is now a major industry in many countries, with global trade estimated to be worth more than $100 billion a year. 

Around 80% of the world’s sugar is derived from sugar cane, grown by millions of small-scale farmers and plantation workers in the Global South.

One of the world's most popular beverages, tea has grown from a medicinal crop in China five thousand years ago to being a multibillion dollar global industry. 

Stitching sports balls is an important economic activity for workers in India, China, Indonesia and particularly Pakistan where, for the people of Sialkot region in the north of Pakistan, 75% of the world’s soccer balls are stitched.

Since the early days of the spice and herb trade, the industry has become progressively more concentrated. Today, two firms dominate the global spice and herb market; McCormick and Company Inc., and Tone Brothers Inc. 

Symbol of love, luxury and power, gold is the ultimate precious mineral. But for miners, the reality is far less glamourous.

Wine is produced in over 50 countries and is one of the world’s most well-known and popular beverages. From once being a vehicle for discussion in Greek and Roman times, wine is today a social and cultural phenomenon.