Fair trade vs organic

In the midst of Fairtrade Fortnight, Maddy Fry tells us why she will always buy fair trade over organic food.

''Modern essentials such as coffee, rice and oranges cannot be produced in Britain because of the climate or conditions for growth.'' ''I will always buy fair trade because I believe that the more we depend on Third World producers, the better.'' Put a Fairtrade Dubble chocolate bar in your shopping basket.

Food shopping is complicated enough for people who don’t care about the problems of this world, but somehow it’s even worse for those of us who do. With the growing threat of climate change, the dilemma now for many ethical consumers is whether to buy locally produced food that hasn’t been imported by climate-warming aviation, or fair trade food that might get Third World farmers out of poverty - but at the cost of having added to this planet’s pollution levels.

As the issue of global warming has gradually drifted up the public agenda in recent years, the market for locally grown, organic foods in Britain has increased. Encouraging local sustainability might seem like an answer to climate change but, from an economic point of view, like nuclear power it is more of a stop-gap solution.

Although every country becoming self-reliant may seem like a nice idea, it is simply not realistic – Britain has not relied on its ability to produce its own food since the 19th century. There are things that, like it or not, we simply cannot grow here; modern essentials such as coffee, rice and oranges cannot be produced in Britain because of the climate or conditions for growth. Because we have to import these things, it is vital that we concentrate on buying items that have the Fairtrade brand.

As for the environment, a capitalist society has to take the conditions of the market into account. As the market for home-grown food gets bigger, more suppliers will start to enter it. This carries the risk that oranges will have a ‘grown in Britain’ tag put on them by the producer, purely so that the average consumer can buy them with a warm feeling inside - their conscience eased because they have ‘done their bit.’

But having been grown locally doesn’t guarantee that the food has been grown organically or naturally. To produce a commodity such as oranges in a country like Britain would require the use of a greenhouse, which would take up more energy and cause more pollution than if they were simply imported from Spain. The issue is not straightforward – buying locally is a double-edged sword.

I am not saying that we shouldn’t reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in an attempt to delay the day of reckoning. But, regardless of climate change, fossil fuels are running out. Governments the world over should be investing in better technologies so that our food can be brought to us with the knowledge that the producer got a fair deal, and that the planet hasn’t been put further at risk in order for us to enjoy it.

The world has never been so interdependent. I will always buy fair trade because I believe that the more we depend on Third World producers, the better.