Folkestone Town Council celebrated becoming a Fairtrade Community on 2ndĀ August 2023.
This milestone and significant achievement in attaining Fairtrade status for the town is down to the hard work and commitment of FTC Officers, Councillors and external partners & stakeholders to champion Fairtrade and the rights of farmers in developing nations.
Folkestone Town Council has achieved mobilisation of cafes/restaurants to serve Fairtrade tea and coffee, retailers to sell Fairtrade-certified products, held events and ran campaigns and achieved impactful media coverage.
Farmers around the world face many challenges ranging from unfair trading practices to poverty and climate change. Fairtrade has paved a way for fairer, ethical trading. Currently it works with 1.66 million farmers and workers in poorest nations to enable them to earn a sustainable income and the Fairtrade Premium that they can invest in community, business and environmental projects.
On 1st April 2025, Folkestone Town Council achieved Fairtrade Town status for a further 3 years.
“This fantastic milestone is a collective achievement and reflects the continued support of local campaigners, businesses, retailers and community groups. We have some exciting plans for the future and today Folkestone Town Council invite local residents to get involved to help drive change for the farmers who need our support most.ā
Sarah Brazier, Communities Campaigns Manager at the Fairtrade Foundation said: āWe all have huge power to change things for the better through our shopping choices and business practices. With the support of campaigners such as Folkestone Town Council, the Fairtrade movement has helped to transform the lives of millions of farmers and workers, their families and communities in the worldās poorest countries.
āTrade is not working for everyone and so we need to keep driving change for more farmers and their families. I hope the group will continue their much needed work and I wish them many more years of success.ā
The Fairtrade Town campaign started in 2001 in Garstang, Lancashire, to promote Fairtrade-certified goods in the town. The Fairtrade network currentlyĀ includes over 600 Fairtrade Communities in the UK, and over 2,000 worldwide.
To find out more and join the local Steering Group, please contact:
In April 2000 the people of Garstang declared their small market town in Lancashire the worldās first Fairtrade Town. Garstang has inspired hundreds of communities since then and Fairtrade Towns are springing up in Canada, the United States, France, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Brazil and beyond. In the UK, Fairtrade Towns are at the forefront of a unique peopleās movement for change, with places from Birmingham to Bristol, Fair Isle to Carlisle, Durham to Dundee working to promote Fairtrade.
Fairtrade is about bringing the farmer and the shopper closer together. Itās about putting people at the heart of trade. Becoming a Fairtrade Town sends a powerful message about how your community wants trade to work and will directly benefit some of the worldās poorest farmers and workers through increasing awareness and sales of Fairtrade in your area. People power works and Fairtrade Towns have been essential in building support for Fairtrade across the UK. A study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) found that the most effective campaigns to encourage ethical shopping are those that take place at a collective level, such as the creation of Fairtrade Cities, rather than those that only target individual behaviour.
With Fairtrade you have the power to change the world every day. With simple shopping choices you can get farmers a better deal, and that means they can make their own decisions, control their future and lead the dignified life everyone deserves.
Fairtrade sets social, economic and environmental standards for both companies and the farmers and workers who grow the food we love. For farmers and workers the standards include protection of workersā rights and the environment, for companies they include the payment of the Fairtrade Minimum Price and an additional Fairtrade Premium to invest in business or community projects of the communityās choice.
We independently check that our standards have been met by the farmers, workers and companies that are part of the productsā supply chains. In order to reassure consumers that this has happened, we license the use of the Fairtrade Mark on products and packaging to signal this.Ā