Learn more about Fairtrade pilots, which is how we develop and test new ideas for further improving our Standards, towards more positive impacts for farmers and workers.
Fairtrade / Ranita Roy / Fairpicture
Our world keeps evolving: from trading realities, to changing legislation and consumer preferences. Therefore, it is necessary that as Fairtrade we evolve as well. And continue to test and innovate. However, we want to make sure any changes we make to the Fairtrade standards actually make a positive impact on the farmers and workers. That is where Fairtrade pilots come in.
What is a Fairtrade Pilot?
A pilot is a structured way of testing a new idea in a specific
environment with the aim of improving how Fairtrade impacts farmers and
workers. They usually affect the scope of the Fairtrade Standards and/or
the certification process.
We take changes in our standards seriously and both thorough research
as well as consultation is required, but it is often preferred to also
conduct a trial of the change introduced in practice at a reduced scale,
so that risks are easier to mitigate. A Fairtrade Pilot refers to this
entire process: from the refinement of the idea to improve the Fairtrade
Standards or certification, crosschecking how this new change works in
reality, and finally evaluating its outcomes.
In short: Fairtrade can develop and safely try out new ideas related
to the Standards that seem promising in terms of growing and improving
Fairtrade’s positive impact on producers and their communities.
How do Fairtrade pilots work?
There are several steps to implement a Fairtrade pilot.
First, a Fairtrade employee can submit a pilot application, which is then reviewed, and consulted on, by the Pilot Facilitator (as defined in the Fairtrade Standards Unit), to draft a pilot proposal.
The Oversight Committee (composed of representatives of Fairtrade producer networks, Fairtrade traders, national Fairtrade organisations and FLOCERT) reviews the proposal and can green-light the pilot, but they can also require further improvements before taking final decision on the proposal.
Further fine-tuning and research takes place to define targets and an implementation plan for the pilot. It is ready to go!
During the pilot phase, progress is continuously monitored to allow risk mitigation, if needed.
Final evaluation against set targets.
The results of that evaluation are then presented to the Oversight Committee which will review and endorse recommendations on how to proceed with the pilot.
Depending on how well the pilot performed against set targets, the recommendation may be to:
include the piloted conditions into the Standards, if the pilot was successful;
stop the pilot if it was a not a success; or
pause a pilot and collect more information.
In case of a successful pilot, the pilot is then handed over
internally to prepare for permanent implementation of the tested
conditions.
These are some of the recent pilots we have been working on:
Focused premium investment for bananas
Objective: This pilot aims to establish a long-term sourcing relationship between the retailer and producers. Through this partnership, there will be focused investment into living wages, climate resilience, community and human rights. This follows consultations with farmers and workers, that involves them establishing and agreeing the priority areas where they wish to target their Fairtrade Premium investment.
Commodities/product: Fresh bananas
Regional Scope: Bananas grown in Central & South America, and in West Africa
Duration: 1 year
Potato retro-certification
Objective: Potatoes are shipped in large containers and sorting and packing only takes place close to the supermarket. Demand for Fairtrade potato of a certain quality and size is communicated regularly by the supermarket and based on this demand it is decided which proportion of the Fairtrade eligible potatoes, that are produced according to the Fairtrade Standards, will be sold as Fairtrade. For the volume sold as Fairtrade, the Fairtrade Premium is paid to the producer, after the sales transactions took place. This process is called retro-certification. The pilot aims at maximizing the volume of potatoes sold as Fairtrade certified and at increasing the frequency of Fairtrade Premium payments to the producer. The pilot also aims to generate learnings around the retro-certification of potatoes, which may benefit a future review of the Fairtrade Standard for Fresh Vegetables.
Commodities/products: Potato
Regional scope: Produced in Egypt to be sold in Switzerland
Objective: The pilot aims at establishing more Fairtrade textile supply chains that connect workers in India with German consumers. Many companies are involved in the textile supply chains. Among these, some make only a very small contribution to a Fairtrade product, such as adding small embroidery. These companies are sometimes not interested in certification because the costs associated to it are high compared to the value of their services. As a result, this prevents a product from being Fairtrade certified, though the company’s contribution is small. To remedy this situation, such companies do not have to follow the social requirements of the Fairtrade Textile Standard, but can instead rely on another indicator testifying to their social conditions. This is only allowed for subcontracted companies representing less than 5 percent of the product value. All other actors in the supply chain are subject to the Textile Standard in full. This ensures that most workers benefit from a complete Fairtrade audit.
Commodities/products: Textile products
Regional scope: Produced in India to be sold in Germany
Objective: The pilot aims at developing a certification and labelling scheme for commodities produced by French farmers who struggle to generate a decent income from their work. Milk and wheat are targeted, as those supply chains include farmers that are very vulnerable, and they could be combined with Fairtrade certified ingredients, such as cocoa, sugar or vanilla.
Objective: The pilot project of Fairtrade Germany and toom Baumarkt aims to broaden the range and quantity of potted plants sold under Fairtrade terms to increase the Fairtrade Premium benefits. In the pilot project, processes are simplified for nurseries in Germany and the Netherlands that finish cultivating the plants from Fairtrade young plants. These nurseries no longer have to be Fairtrade certified and can mix in the production of Fairtrade plants with conventional plants. However, only the quantity that was sourced as cuttings under Fairtrade conditions can be sold as Fairtrade certified. This is verified by the independent certifier FLOCERT. In addition to the regular Fairtrade Premium, toom Baumarkt pays an extra premium of one euro cent per Fairtrade plant purchased for the workers on the Fairtrade certified cuttings farms.
Commodities/products: Potted plants
Regional scope: Production of seedlings in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Costa Rica and sold in Germany
As the world keeps changing, so will our pilots. Stay tuned to learn more about the pilots established on this page, or visit our Impact Map to learn more about Fairtrade programmes and projects across the world.
