Fair Trade is a new model of international trade that provides a clear and just alternative to the free trade system. Fair Trade embodies a cooperative effort among producers, consumers and distributors that works to promote and insure:

• Fair Prices for farmers and workers in developing countries.
  
• Fair labor conditions that include making a living wage and safe working conditions.
  
• Direct Trade between producers and importers eliminating unnecessary middlemen.
  
• Democratic and transparent organizations in which farmer and workers decide together how to invest Fair Trade revenues.
  
• Community Development projects that invest in the local social, educational and business development.
  
• Environmental sustainability that resists harmful treatment of the land and engages farming methods that protect farmers’ health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations.

Why Fair Trade?

“The economy should work for people, and not the other way around.”
US Catholic Bishops

This statement succinctly conveys the core insight of Catholic social teaching on the economy. Over and over again, during more than 100 years of theological reflection and writing on modern economic issues, the Catholic Church has confirmed that the constitutive purpose of the economy is to serve the common good.

The market cannot legitimate itself. The economy is legitimate in our Catholic tradition only to the extent that it meets the material needs of every member of our human family and the moral demands of justice and solidarity.

Fair Trade creates an opportunity for us to respond to this call in a way every day through the choices we make as consumers. When we make the conscious decision to purchase Fair Trade items, we are putting the values of our Catholic faith and Catholic social teaching into practice. We also contribute toward realizing the vision of economic justice in our time.

Learn more about Fair Trade practices at
centerformission.org/fair-trade/ >>