My view? A label alone isn’t enough. Shoppers need much more detailed, compelling information so they know for sure whether those that provide their food have enough to eat for themselves. It’s my biggest criticism of Fairtrade: lack of information. A ‘Fairtrade’ sticker alone isn’t sufficient to win hearts and minds…and shopper’s sentiments.

We were the first to import ethically sourced coffee to the UK back in 1976. It was years before Fairtrade started… But we created a stir when we shipped almost 3 tonnes of instant coffee from Tanzania to the UK to help support manufacturing in the Third World. Our labelling was unique, and featured a photo of a pile of coins, showing who-got-what for the price of a jar of coffee. With the coffee came a booklet called, “The World In Your Coffee Cup.” We provided sufficient reading material to last several cups of coffee! Last month BBC radio interviewed me about our pioneering ‘Campaign Coffee’, that helped to start the idea of ethically sourced coffee in Great Britain. The broadcast is now available on YouTube (4 minutes):

http://youtu.be/4qiHw40CubY

I personally ,get sick of hearing people complaining that they wont give money to the big charities and ngo’s ’cause the money is being wasted on administration stuff and big campaigns. I agree with all of that but i think people should put their money where their mouth is and sending donations to something like the Lorna Young foundation – like, a small charity that really is doing things that are being overlooked – is one way of showing that you give a damn and that you want the money you send off to be spent as it should be.