Domestic Fair Trade Association

The DFTA is a unique organization that fosters collaboration between farmers and farmworkers in the United States and Canadian sustainable agriculture movement. We seek to build supply chains dedicated to principles of fairness and equity by uniting these efforts with mission-based traders, retailers, and consumers. Many people are familiar with international Fair Trade, as it applies to the import of coffee, tea, and cocoa. Fair Trade unites marginalized farmers and workers in the Global South with traders and consumers in a commitment to fairness, equity, and environmental stewardship. Increasingly, however, challenges faced by marginalized producers in the Global South are also faced by marginalized producers in the Global North. In the United States and Canada: Big agribusiness continues to thrive while small farmers have gone out of business. Consumers pay more, while farmers receive less. Farmworkers are routinely denied fair wages and basic rights, many of whom are displaced farmers from the Global South. The DFTA was formed in 2008 by organizations and businesses across the agricultural supply chain to unite the values of organic agriculture with the principles of fair trade for the Global North. Particularly because organic certification does not currently address worker welfare, the domestic fair trade movement seeks to help consumers not only choose food that is healthy and sustainable, but also just.