Fair Trade Expo

Hey All!

Sorry about not posting on Saturday. It was a hectic day for me that started with attending the Fair Trade Expo on campus. For those of you not in the know, fair trade supports farmers and artisans in developing countries against large corporations that treat them unfairly. Basically, it means that most of the money that you're paying for fair trade certified goods goes to the farmer rather than the corporation. Now, why is fair trade good? Well, when corporations buy the produce from farmers in developing nations, they pay only up to 1/3 of what the product is actually worth. So by the time the profits trickle down, the farmers end up receiving less than what it took to produce the products. For example, when coffee farmers sell their coffee to large corporations they receive about 55 cents per kilogram of coffee. This is in comparison to $1.55 per kilogram of coffee under fair trade regulations. Quite a difference, huh? And coffee is just one example... 

Which leads me into my favorite part about the Fair Trade Expo. The food. Other than Fair Trade information, there were also pamphlets and booths dedicated to eating organic and locally grown produce. The Food Co-Op, an amazing program that assists farmers in Ohio (as well as other states), had their own booth and served some locally made dishes. Let me tell you, they were delicious! Organic foods do taste better. Don't believe me? Just try an organic apple and compare it to one that was mass produced using fertilizers and pesticides. You'll notice the difference. Even when shopping for that organic apple, the variety in the types of apples, not just the generic Granny Smith and Macintosh apples, is overwhelming. Now, I understand that eating organic comes at a hefty cost. But you don't have to buy everything organic, here's a link to an article for the top 12 foods you should buy organic. Since this post is getting a bit long, I think I'll save the rest of this organic food rant for tomorrow.

Oh, and as a side note for all of you that already try to eat organic, here's an interesting link/petition. Please give it a read!!!!!

Which of the foods below would you prefer to eat? The corn? The tomato? Or the veggies?

Bis Morgen!