Business School hears the benefit of co-operation first-hand
Fri, 10 Mar 2017 15:15:00 GMT
The Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Communities celebrates Fairtrade Fortnight with guest speaker Jenny Carlyle from co-operative Suma Wholefoods
A REPRESENTATIVE of the UK’s largest independent wholesaler of vegetarian, organic and natural foods came to the University of Huddersfield to talk about Fairtrade and its products during the nationwide Fairtrade Fortnight.
Jenny Carlyle (pictured left) is a member of Suma Wholefoods and delivered a talk for staff and students in the University’s Business School entitled The Suma Story: Building a multi-million pound business on Fairtrade Principles. She was invited by the University’s Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Communities who have been holding an array of activities throughout Fairtrade Fortnight to raise awareness of the ‘fair price’ principle.
The session began with Jenny explaining the meaning of Fairtrade and her experience of working for the UK’s largest ‘worker-owned’ co-operative. Suma Wholefoods is owned by the workers with all employees on equal pay and with an equal decision-making power.
Suma, founded in Leeds in 1975 and now based in Elland, has an annual turnover of over £44 million. The company has been a renowned advocate of Fairtrade products ever since the brand was established in 1993.
Fairtrade is a trademark of the Fairtrade Foundation and is a term used to describe the buying and selling of products so that farmers in developing countries, who produce the goods, receive a fair price. It can provide them with better standards of living, better working conditions whilst promoting sustainability.
For every tonne of Fairtrade products generated, the brand producer must pay a cash sum to have the product certified as Fairtrade. This Premium then goes back to the farmers that produced the goods. Only co-operatives can be producers of Fairtrade products.
The first product to hold the Fairtrade symbol was Green and Black’s Maya Gold Organic Dark Chocolate in 1994 and since then the Fairtrade brand has gone from strength to strength, despite the economic downturn.
“People usually associate Fairtrade with chocolate, bananas and coffee,” said Jenny. “However, there are so many more products on the market which are fairly traded now, such as peanut butter, clothes, coconuts and body products.”
Flowers can also be fairly traded and Jenny highlighted why shoppers need to buy their bouquets from responsible suppliers.
“You must check where the flowers have originated from,” she said. “The flowers from Holland are generally fine, but quite a lot of the cheap supermarket flowers come from South America.
“Not only do they gather a hideous amount of carbon miles, but the women who pick the flowers work in appalling conditions as they are given no health care and have to deal with toxic chemicals on a daily basis,” she added.
Jenny relayed to the audience how, four years ago in her role as Suma’s Chocolate Buyer, she travelled to Ghana to see how the Fairtrade Premium directly benefitted the farmers and their communities. The name of the co-operative she visited was Kuapa KoKoo, the makers of the well-known Divine chocolate bars. With over 88,000 members, it is the second largest supplier of cocoa in Ghana.
“There is a lot of history, especially in Africa, of white people from the West coming along and telling the villagers, who have lived there for generations, how they are going to help them,” said Jenny.
“The Fairtrade Premium means they can make their own money and decisions and ultimately have an effect on their own lives. It’s trade…not aid,” she added.
Concluding the afternoon session, Jenny highlighted that the uncertainty over Brexit, stricter Government regulations and climate change were upcoming challenges facing Suma. However, with over forty years’ experience and having weathered three recessions, the outlook is positive.
- Additional Fairtrade Fortnight activities include the upcoming seminar on 14 March, 1.15pm BSG/27, entitled All In Good Taste. The problems, pitfalls and potential of running a Fairtrade-based enterprise will be discussed. Email csrc@hud.ac.uk to book.
