Fairtrade Foundation

Together, we showed what hope in action really looks like.

Across the UK, almost 600 Fairtrade communities joined the nationwide movement - donating, supporting, and standing in solidarity.

We asked you to donate a Fairtrade item to your local food bank - and every Fairtrade item shared was a small act of kindness that added up to something much bigger.

Thank you to everyone who took part! In a time when things can feel tough, you showed that hope is louder than hate and that fairness, care, and collective action can create real change.

HOPE not hate A Million Acts of Hope Trussell

❗REMINDER: This weather in May is not normal.

And if it feels intense here, imagine what it’s like for the people growing and picking our food around the world.

For millions of farmers and workers, this isn’t a one-off heatwave. It’s the reality of a climate crisis they did the least to cause but are being hit by the hardest. We've already seen temperatures of over 50C in India this week.

And when extreme heat hits it means crop failure, lost income, and communities pushed further into poverty.

The climate crisis is a Human Rights issue, and right now it’s about making sure farmers have the resilience to deal with the inevitable climate shocks that hit them more and more frequently.

So while many of us enjoy the sunshine, it’s worth asking who is really paying the price for this heat?

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The “Great British" cuppa… really isn’t all that great.

In the UK, tea is sold as comfort, tradition and often national pride. But the truth behind it is very different - often based on exploitation, low pay and harsh conditions.

In reality, most of the tea we drink is grown in former British colonies by Black and Brown workers, many of them women, who still aren’t earning enough to cover life’s basics. In fact, just 1 in 5 tea growers in Kenya earn a living income.

That’s why Fairtrade launched last year - calling for UK law that makes companies responsible for what happens in their supply chains - especially when many of them continue to run campaigns hiding the truth of our cuppa hidden behind “British” branding.

Fairtrade has been calling for mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence - because transparency alone doesn’t protect people.

Right now, companies can comply while exploitation, unsafe conditions and environmental harm continue across supply chains.

We need rules that require businesses to prevent harm, not just report it - and businesses, investors and civil society are aligned.

This is about fairness for the people who grow our food and make our products.

It’s time to turn commitments into accountability.

‘Business, unions and civil society agree: it’s time for mandatory due diligence’ – LabourList In 2015, the UK Modern Slavery Act (MSA), was world leading. Yet all it actually required of companies was to report on steps taken to…

The Times Rich List is out, and it is a stark reminder of how extreme wealth is growing and keeps concentrating at the top.

While fortunes run into the hundreds of billions, many of the people who grow our food and make our everyday products are struggling to make ends meet.

Across global supply chains, millions of farmers and workers earn less than a living income - in many sectors like tea and cocoa, some are paid so little they can’t reliably afford food, healthcare or education for their families.

The issues that so many here in the UK are facing - like choosing between heating and eating - are directly reflected in the lives of these people on the other side of the world.


This is the result of a system where wealth flows upwards, while the people doing the hardest work are undervalued and underpaid. Today, we should be asking harder questions about what, and who, this list really represents.

Because the people behind our food are what keep the economy running and their labour creates the wealth being celebrated today - does that seem fair?

Hate is being marched through our streets today. But it doesn’t speak for us.

At Fairtrade we stand against hate. We stand for humanity.

We're heartbroken and angered by the recent surge in anti-immigration hostility across the UK that is being shown in our streets today.

The far right thrives on blame and turning people against each other while the real inequalities go unchallenged.

So let us be clear: migrant communities are not only welcome in the UK, they are essential.

They are our doctors, nurses, teachers, carers and key workers. But, more than that, they are our friends, our family and our neighbours.

And just like their families overseas - tea farmers in India, banana growers in Colombia, cocoa producers in Ghana (and so much more) - they are part of the same global story of contribution, resilience and dignity.

At Fairtrade, we believe in a world that is fair, inclusive and rooted in justice both here in the UK and in the global supply chains that bring us the food we eat and the products we rely on every day.

There is no place for racism or xenophobia in that vision.

We choose solidarity over division.