Sunday 20 March 2011

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT 2011

Our annual City of London Fairtrade Wine Tasting evening took place on Tuesday 1st March 2011 at the offices of Barnett Waddingham LLP.

An audience consisting of representatives from procurement and catering, Livery Companies, the Corporation, the Church, City businesses, Fairtrade activists and NGOs were treated to an excellent array of Bibendum wines from La Riojana in Argentina and Stellenrust in South Africa, and Liberation! Fairtrade peanuts from Mozambique. Miles Platt of Bibendum spoke about the need to source high quality of Fairtrade wines and the impact the Fairtrade premium on farmers, whilst Andrew Emmott of Twin Trading (which founded Liberation! as well as Cafe Direct, Divine and Agrofair) described his role in helping nut farmer co-operatives gain access to international markets, add value to their produce and manage supply chains. We are very grateful to Bibendum, Twin Trading, Liberation!, Barnett Waddingham and the City of London Fairtrade Steering Group for making this event possible.

We also celebrated Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 by joining in the Show Off Your Label photo campaign. Nina Tweddle from the Diocese of London Fairtrade Group, Andrew Emmott from Twin Trading and Dyborn Chibonga, CEO of the National Smallholder Farmers’ Association of Malawi (NASFAM), all pictured on the right, broadcast Fairtrade fruit and nuts quite literally from the rooftops - well, from the top of St Mary-le-Bow tower. NASFAM, which has 110,000 members, includes many nut farmers whose cashews and peanuts you'll find in packets of Harry's Nuts! in supermarkets and pubs in the UK. Dyborn was in the UK to promote Harry’s Nuts! in Fairtrade Fortnight.

JustShare Clergy Seminar Supper, Tuesday 15th March 2011

Peter Sigley, CEO of the Federation of Cocoa Commerce Ltd and Chair of both Cocoa Research UK and the Federation of Commodity Associations, gave us a fascinating insight into the complexities of the cocoa industry and the challenges for governments, development agencies, the private sector and farmers themselves of achieving economic and social development through agriculture.