Time To Be Fair

If you’ve read page 3 you’ll already know that Fairtrade Fortnight begins on Monday 27 February. If you haven’t read it yet, ip back now and check out the ways you can get involved. Then pop back here so we can tell you more about why Fairtrade is so important.

Did you know that coffee, bananas and chocolate could soon be much more dif cult to nd on our shelves?

Climate change is making crops like these harder to grow. Climate change describes the situation of earth’s temperature getting warmer. That might sound nice, but it actually causes a lot of problems, such as oods, storms and rising sea levels.

Many of our favourite foods are produced in areas, such as Central America, East Africa and the Caribbean. This is because in the UK we don’t have the right weather to grow some things. If climate change continues, these areas are likely to experience more extreme weather, which will affect the way farmers are able to grow their crops.

Added to this, farmers growing these products are often underpaid. If they don’t receive a fair price for what they grow, these workers will struggle to afford everything they need for themselves and their families. Especially with rising costs for things such as fuel and fertiliser. Without fairer prices and support, farmers will nd it even harder to tackle the climate change challenges.

If a product has the Fairtrade symbol on it, this means that the farmer and workers who produced it received a fair price for their work. It also means they have safe working conditions and are able to invest in climate-friendly farming techniques.

Making a switch to Fairtrade helps farmers to protect the future of some of our most-loved food, as well as helping the planet.

This is what the Fairtrade symbol looks like so you can look out for it when you next go to the shops.