Fairtrade 'absorbing' farms, changing livelihoods - FreshFruitPortal.com

Fairtrade 'absorbing' farms, changing livelihoods

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Fairtrade 'absorbing' farms, changing livelihoods

As Fairtrasa celebrates its 10th anniversary, www.freshfruitportal.com has an in-depth interview with founder and CEO Patrick Struebi about his thoughts and expectations for the next decade. Poised to introduce Chinese consumers to his ethically sourced produce, he's just opened a Shanghai base with plans to become a first mover in a space where consumers are only just starting to think about fairtrade produce. 

"One thing that I am absolutely sure of is that the trend towards organic fairtrade produce will continue to grow and boom. The Europeans are leaders in this domain, the U.S. is catching up and the Chinese are just beginning." Fairtrasa bananas

"Fairtrade produce is limited in China - that's partially my motivation for going in."

Inspired after listening to a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year about the role of sustainable agriculture for the republic's future food security, Struebi has begun to set up Chinese operations to complement Fairtrasa’s global presence in Europe, the U.S. and in producer farms in Latin America that have adopted his fairtrade farming model.

"After 10 years in the business it's more important than ever to have a presence in all major markets and diversify as much as possible," Struebi says.

"What we want to do is be a first mover in China; we want to sell to China. We want to be a first mover with organics where we produce in Latin America and supply the Chinese market to start off with.

"Even if one percent or half a percent of the Chinese buy organic that's still a huge amount. Right now China has very little organic fairtrade produce for sale - that's why this is the moment for us to go in as the population becomes more conscious of fairtrade produce."

Initially Fairtrasa China, headed up by Sophia Cai, will begin trading and importing fruit including grapes, avocados, citrus, bananas and blueberries; it will take a while before farmer collaborations can be set up.

"Apart from selling our own organic produce we also want to replicate our production model in China because it doesn’t make sense that China would import millions of containers if they have the possibility to grow a lot by themselves. But there is also a lack of knowledge so now we are establishing a project to replicate our development model.

"We haven't had any concrete conversations as of yet with the Chinese government but I have a very large network and as part of the World Economic Forum I have the possibility to get into the government on a very high level.

"I have some good door openers so I feel positive that we will get support but it needs to be planned and structured properly so this will not happen now, more like six to eight months. Meantime we will start our trading activity, start importing, creating brand awareness and all the other stuff you need to do when you want to be a first mover."

Fairtrasa farming development model

Since the days of shipping his first container of fairtrade Mexican avocados, Struebi has been replicating his successful farming development model, predominantly in Latin American countries.

Now a vertically integrated company owning its own import entities, Fairtrasa can manage the supply chain and work first-hand with farmers to lift them out of a cycle of poverty, provide education, training, technical know-how, connect them with international markets and ultimately empower small-scale farmers through the social entrepreneurial spirit that is the lifeblood the organization.

One inspirational anecdote is the Dominican Republic example when Fairtrasa 'absorbed the country overnight', transforming the lives of farming communities and setting up an ethical model that will support families for generations to come.

"A very impressive story for me personally was what happened with us in the Dominican Republic. We opened an office there and basically could include an entire country with lots of farmers and land.

"The resources are already there and we have the network and the market. When I think back to when I shipped my very first container and how long it took and how hard it was to include just one more grower, it's pretty amazing to realize that we now we have the size and scale where we can absorb such a place as the Dominican Republic.

"What we do is to generally help farmers who have a product which they sell on the local market at very low prices and cannot go beyond subsistence level."

Struebi sees his organization as something beyond a fruit grower, importer and exporter; as a multi winner of social entrepreneurial awards from the likes of the abc* Foundation, Visionaris and The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, his dedication to helping transform small-scale farmers restricted to selling cut price fruit on the domestic market is acknowledged and admired.

"I was forced to create the import companies and all the logistics and structures to be more effective and efficient in helping these farmers. What distinguishes us is that now we are vertically integrated it is very important to have a strong presence on the market and what is different in terms of what we do is that we sell the products that our farmers grow. It's not like other importers who are basically trading organizations. We develop farmers and we sell what we produce.

"This has gained a lot of momentum because there are a lot of customers, the general public, and they want to know where their food comes from, they want organic products, and they want the stories behind the fresh fruit.

"With our help they (farmers) can increase production and sell at higher prices, therefore increasing their income tenfold. That is super significant, especially also that we go to places where there are farmers with land but no money to plant anything so we enter into collaborations and really have a tailored development model."

This philosophy is important on a larger scale, says Struebi, who considers the impact fairtrade also has on aspects like food waste and the buzz word of the moment 'sustainability'.

"Developing a model like ours is vital in the larger scheme of things because a lot of food is wasted and a lot of food, especially from small-scale farmers, is not even included in the global food supply chain.

"We need to tap into that resource and make sure enough food is available going forward as our population keeps growing. This is why this model has been very successful. We help with organic and fairtrade certification and ensure farmers receive a fair price on the market.

"We convert a non-profit activity into a full profit activity. Because normally this was the space where foundations and non-profit organizations were active but not efficient and because we manage as a business we have been able to achieve a much higher impact."

A global explosion that demands fairtrade

Struebi currently operates from his U.S. office where he’s closely monitoring the purchasing tendencies of consumers who are evolving in the fairtrade space. Consumer propensity towards choosing fairtrade will drive the demand.

"This trend is only going to increase and in the U.S. I see the same thing happening. Europe is probably more advanced already but it’s starting here and all over. This is also triggered by the available technology today. People have instant access to everything on their mobile phones and they naturally want to know more.

"The general public has grown to be more critical and they challenge and ask questions: ‘'What is in this drink I’m drinking?' or 'Where does that apple come from?’' or 'Who is the farmer who produced it?' And obviously we do have amazing stories of how we develop our farmers.

"This trend has been in our favor because 10 years ago when I started the company this type of feeling was still very small. There was just fairtrade coffee and maybe sugar but now it's exploding."

Consumer demand for fairtrade fruit is pushing large retailers to ink deals with the likes of Fairtrasa which supplies many major supermarkets across Europe and the U.S.

"How we are viewed in the market right now is very attractive for a lot of supermarkets because they also want to tell stories and we have hundreds of them. Some of them (supermarkets) don’t just want to sell commodities.

"The global trend for more sustainability in its largest sense like social, environmental, food safety and knowing where your food comes from will continue and this will put a lot of pressure on conventional traders because the consumer wants to know more.

"This is also the reason why corporate social responsibility program checks have become important for bigger companies. The continuation of this trend is obviously good news for us because this is our core, we want to keep replicating our farmer development model. Yes, now we are a fairly huge organization but what hasn’t changed is our mission to support farmers."

What are some of the biggest challenges facing Fairtrasa?

From an economic standpoint, the biggest hurdle currently is the weak euro. However Struebi believes a much more inherent challenge is continuing to get his fairtrade message across on a global scale.

"We have these amazing stories and we need to find out how we can get these messages across so that consumers really see the people involved; the farmers and their families.

"At Fruit Logisitica in Berlin we had 12 companies from nine countries presenting so if customers came we could say this is the guy who runs Peru, this is the guy from the Dominican Republic and he’s from Mexico. We want people to say 'Wow, they are real people', it’s not just marketing'.

"We don’t just want to be seen as a fruit trading company. We want to be seen as a vertically integrated group that develops farmers. It’s challenging to get this message across in the best way so the man in the street understands that if he goes into a shop to buy a fairtrade banana, he is the one who can have a direct impact on the lives of farmers because he is paying a premium. If he pays 20 cents more, that premium helps me to develop more farmers.”

 www.freshfruitportal.com 

 

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