Ecuador with Fair Trade USA
& the meaning behind the Fair Trade Certified label
& the meaning behind the Fair Trade Certified label
We recently got home from a week in Ecuador with the truly wonderful team behind Fair Trade Certified.
If you’re unfamiliar, it’s the label you see on certain goods like chocolate, coffee, flowers, clothing— or essentially anything that can be produced and sold.
Any company can choose to go through the certification process: those approved are companies that have the highest standards in place in terms of empowering employees, offering incredible working conditions and unionized community-focused incentives like discounted housing, on-site doctors and computer labs.
We were able to take a look at the ground floor of the company and learn what our dollars are supporting when purchasing Fair Trade products.
The impact that this has on individuals and communities across the globe is astounding and I’m so happy to share what I learned on this trip.
What does ethical and sustainable manufacturing entail?
We sat down with a group of employees at the Agrocoex rose farm in Latacunga, Ecuador to ask about what Fair Trade does for them and why that makes their job ideal. Here are some of the benefits of their particular Fair Trade program:
Employees have an on-site doctor and dentist available instead of having to pay high markups on their own for healthcare. They also have an on-site laundromat; workers at non-fair trade operations generally work 6 days a week and then do all of their laundry for their family on their only day off. With this program, they’re able to take their laundry to work and have it washed and folded by the time they’re ready to go home: this is a great example of how one very simple standard is able to change quality of life for so many.
The newest project that Agrocoex is working on: there are 95 homes in the process of being built for the employees to purchase at low costs so that they’re able to buy a permanent, safe home instead of spending money on rent each month without the ability to save. (Photos of the housing project are below.)
Employees get 21 vacation days and fair wages: the workers we spoke to each said they hope to work at Agrocoex as long as they’re alive. The owners of this company really care about their wellbeing, as they like to have have happy, comfortable and loyal employees.
When you purchase items with the Fair Trade Certified label, you’re supporting workers like these, improving their livelihoods and contributing to operations that have safe, environmentally beneficial practices at their factories.
I was so moved by this experience and am thankful to have been able to see behind the curtain of these operations to learn who our dollar is supporting when we purchase Fair Trade— putting names and faces to the program truly shifted my perspective.
We even got to see the roses that were about to be shipped out to the Whole Foods and New Seasons that are right down the street from our apartment in Portland, which felt very serendipitous.
The other Fair Trade site that we visited was a cocoa farm and factory: we got to take a look at the whole process— from picking the cocoa fruits, to drying them out individually, to melting them and creating the chocolate.
We met the owners of the company, got to take a look at their new packaging and tour the factory that they’re in the process of building: they’re creating the factory with Fair Trade standards in mind so they’re able to get it certified right away.
Some examples of this include lockers for employees to store their things, large and spacious bathrooms, some break and lunchrooms as well as lots of windows for natural light. Non-Fair Trade sites typically don't have lockers or places to store belongings, separate bathrooms or time for breaks (let alone dedicated areas for breaks or lunch.)
It was an amazing space: it was pretty dark inside so I didn't grab any photos of the interior, but all of the photos below are of the current production facility and the farm that the cocoa is grown on.
And lastly, here are some other favorite photos from the trip — we visited Latacunga, Cotopaxi and Calceta.
We were also able to spend an evening in Quito, which was lovely. We stayed at the Casa Gangotena.
We were super grateful to learn all that we did on this trip and visit this very beautiful country. View more work from the trip here. Thank you for having us and for sponsoring this post, Fair Trade USA!