Fair Trade: More than just bananas

Independent wholesaler of vegetarian, organic, natural foods Customers throughout the UK and the world Largest worker-owned cooperative in the UK No bosses Equal Pay Built on multi-skilling

1975

46 The Calls – Suma’s First Warehouse

Suma at Dean Clough, Halifax

Suma Today

Elected Management Committee (MC) General Meeting (GM) Elected Management Committee (MC) Function Area Coordinators (FACs) Goods Handling Distribution Tactical Sales Brand Buying Service Area

1994

What is Fair Trade? Fair Trade provides a minimum basic price to the producers for a commodity. If the market goes up, then the producers benefit from a higher market rate. Ft the market drops below the Fair Trade price, the producer still gets the Fair Trade price.

Fair Trade Premium For every tonne of Fair Trade products made, the brand producer pays a premium – a cash sum to have the product certified as Fair Trade If the goods aren’t certified with the Fair Trade logo, the goods could still be from a ‘Fair Trade’ supplier, but the premium is not paid The Premium is given back to the cooperative that produced the goods The producers get more back for products that are sold as Fair Trade, than those that aren’t If producers want to mark their brand with the Fair Trade logo, they have to pay to register with the Fair Trade foundation, and pay the premium on all products that are marked with the logo The Fair Trade logo is a registered Trademark

Case Study – Kuapa Kokoo & Divine Chocolate Second largest Cocoa supplier in Ghana Over 88,000 farmer members The only chocolate bar readily available in the UK where the farmers receive a share of the profits of the final bar sale

Benefits of the premium Use the FT premium to buy every farmer member a machete Democratically decide how to spend the rest of the funds Premium funds are spent on mills, solar panels, bikes, schools, toilets – anything that is needed Any spend is accompanied by appropriate maintenance training to ensure longevity The premium is funds generated by the farmers, which they then decide what to do with, gives autonomy and independence, NOT charity Benefits of the Cooperative Fully democratic on a national, regional and local level Elected officials build trust within communities There is a fund any member can access for help with campaigning Separate funds set up to encourage women to create their own craft businesses to supplement their income Officials check on the status of child labour in all cooperative villages Funds available for education for all members and their families Gives farmers a say over their lives

Does this whole Coop thing work? Coops were worth £34.1 billion to the UK economy in 2016* In 2014, estimated that 12% of G20 population were employed by cooperatives** In Kenya 63% of the population get their income from cooperatives** In general of all new business 4 in 5 will fail. With cooperatives, 3 in 5 will succeed** Cooperatives in the USA own over $3 trillion in assets and generate over $500 million in revenue *** Kuapa Kokoo, aim to be Ghana’s largest cocoa producer, they’re well on their way Suma has experienced 40 years of continuous growth as a cooperative and has weathered 3 recessions What do you think? *Coops UK **International Cooperative Alliance ***University of Wisconsin

Cooperative Principles 1. Voluntary and Open Membership 2. Democratic Member Control 3. Member Economic Participation 4. Autonomy and Independence 5. Education, Training and Information 6. Cooperation amongst Cooperatives 7. Concern for Community

Challenges ahead for cooperatives / Suma Brexit uncertainty!!!! Stricter government regulations / laws that don’t consider the cooperative model Growth without reducing core values & principles Climate change (worldwide food production) Cooperative Strengths Flexible / Adaptable Resilient Core values & principles