Fair Trade Rice now available in the US

Posted 7/21/05

*Fair Trade Certified Rice Now Available for Sale in the US! *

*Join ENGAGE and Bring Fair Trade Rice to Your Community.*

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5 Things You Can Do:_*

1) Receive a Fair Trade Rice Organizer Packet- Email jrice@engage-humanity.org for a free copy of the Fair Trade Rice Campaign Organizer Packet, which contains all the educational and campaign materials you need to bring Fair Trade Certified rice and trade justice to your community.

2) Get Fair Trade Rice on Store Shelves- Ask your local grocers to carry Fair Trade Certified rice. Send letters to national supermarket
chains.

3) Educate Your Community Members About Fair Trade Rice- Organize events in your community to raise awareness about Fair Trade Rice. Coordinate events for Fair Trade month in October.

4) Organize Local Events for the Thai Fair Trade Rice Farmer Tour-
From late September to early October 2005, Thai farmers will be visiting Maine, Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Contact ENGAGE to get involved.

5) Encourage Universities, Institutions, and Organizations to Carry Fair Trade Rice

6) Campaign For Trade Justice- Fair Trade calls on us as consumers to support a just alternative; trade justice calls on us as citizens to focus on the inequalities that make Fair Trade necessary. Work with campaigns in your area to seek just trade alternatives to free trade agreements that are harmful to labor, small-scale farmers, and the environment.

Rice, which supports the livelihoods of over 1 billion households in developing countries, is the newest Fair Trade Certified product available for sale in the US. The Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE) is building a national Fair Trade Rice Campaign to raise awareness about trade justice issues negatively affecting producers and consumers and to build demand for Fair Trade rice in the United States.

While rice farmers essentially feed the world's population, depressed world prices coupled with increasing agricultural costs have left many landless, in debt, and unable to provide for their own families. In Thailand, 68% of farmers in the main rice growing region face debts that are three times their annual incomes, forcing many to flee their farms and seek employment in factories, construction, or the commercial sex industry in Bangkok or abroad.

Meanwhile, the global trade in rice is plagued by unfair practices and policies that only worsen the situation for the world's rice farmers. Through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), agricultural subsidies leading to unfair competition, the patenting of rice strains, and misleading labeling practices, control of the rice trade is increasingly out of the hands of the world's producers and consumers.

Fair Trade rice is emerging as a solution for farmers in Thailand and India. With Fair Trade Certified rice, farmers are guaranteed a living wage, have fair labor conditions, and manage their own cooperative rice mills. The Fair Trade price guarantees that rice producers reap benefits from their harvest, by paying a premium which covers the cost of living and the cost of production. This increase in income allows farmers to pay off debts, send their children to school, and improve their health by switching to organic production.

By helping farmers switch to organic production fair trade helps improve the environment as well. Currently about 50% of fair trade rice producers are certified organic and the rest are in the three year transition to become certified organic. With organic farming farmers are able to improve biodiversity by eliminating use of harmful chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and grow a product that is good for their health and the health of consumers.

Join ENGAGE in our efforts to create fair trade alternatives for producers and consumers, and trade policies and practices based on justice and environmental responsibility. Get involved by emailing jrice@engage-humanity.org and requesting a copy of the Fair Trade Rice Organizer Packet.

In Solidarity,

Chris Westcott and Ellen Roggemann ENGAGE Campaign Coordinators
2017 Mission St, #305
San Francisco, CA 94110
Email: jrice@engage-humanity.org
PH: (609) 658-3199

The Educational Network for Global and Grassroots Exchange (ENGAGE), with branches in the United States and Thailand, uses the energy of former study abroad students to link communities globally in grassroots action for social justice.