The future of fairtrade: where to next for certification? - podcast

The fairtrade movement has been evolving for the last 40 years, seeing significant growth in countries such as the UK where sales reached £1.5bn in 2012. However, while demand for fairtrade products does go beyond UK consumers, many countries are yet to see a market for these goods and fairtrade as market mechanism has come under much debate.

The above podcast explores fairtrade as a business model, the challenges it faces and where it is headed next. Does fairtrade certification have a role in future markets? If so, what is it and how must the movement adapt? Listen to the arguments for and against fairtrade mechanisms and let us know what place you think it has in the business landscape of the future.

On the panel

Michael Gidney, CEO at the Fairtrade Foundation

Linda Whetstone, co-author of Half a Cheer for Fairtrade and chairman of Network for a Free Society

Mike Coupe, group commercial director at Sainsbury's

Wolfgang Weinmann, head of impact and sustainability at Cafédirect (via a pre-recorded interview)

Key quotes

Michael Gidney: "If we really truly believe that unfettered free trade is the way to solve poverty and the way to solve some of the social inequity in the world, then we've all been asleep during the banking crisis."

Linda Whetstone: "Although you can say that some fairly awful things happen in free markets and that fairtrade can protect a few people from them, I think that wherever you look, where there have been freer markets there is less poverty."

Mike Coupe: "We have to reach through our supply chains to not just the UK sources but the primary sources of the products we sell, and fairtrade is one of the ways that we can do that."

Wolfgang Weinmann: "I think fairtrade does have a role in the future but it is probably a very different one from the original outset. Cafédirect would like to see it speed up much much more."

Get involved

Do you agree with our panelists? How can business help to build better trading systems in the future and where does the fairtrade movement fit in? Listen to the above podcast and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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