Objective of the Standard

Fair Trade USA developed the Independent Smallholder (ISH) Standard to provide access to the benefits of Fair Trade for the many farmers that own small parcels of land but are not organized into cooperatives or associations. Fair Trade USA aims to bring our mission of empowerment, economic development, social responsibility and environmental stewardship to these “independent” Small Farmers, by helping them to partner with a Market Access Partner to commercialize their products. The standard is based on the following principles:

1. Empowerment: Inclusive Participation and Transparency
   • The group of smallholders, through democratically elected representatives, is responsible for decisions on the use of the Fair Trade Community Development premium.
   • Independent Smallholders are empowered and able to represent themselves effectively in their negotiations with the Market Access Partner.
2. Economic Development: Stable business relationships and Pre-determined Community Development Premiums
   • Fair Trade contracts are honored and independent smallholders are able to better commercialize their product.
   • Fair Trade USA standards require pre-determined Fair Trade community development premiums on every sale.
3. Social Responsibility
   • Fair Trade prohibits child labor and forced labor and ensures health and safety measures are established.
   • Community Development Premiums can be used to provide greater access to / quality of healthcare and education.
4. Environmental Stewardship
   • Independent Smallholders practice sustainable farming and protect biodiversity.
   • The Market Access Partner helps smallholders increase their knowledge of environmentally sustainable production methods.

Standards Development and Stakeholder Review

The ISH Standard builds on the strengths of the certification of Smallholder Organizations while providing flexibility for farmers to choose how to best organize and commercialize their products. In drafting the ISH Standard, Fair Trade USA reviewed several standards and their compliance criteria, including FLO’s Small Producer Organization and Contract Production standards, Rainforest Alliance’s Group Certification standard, Utz Certified’s Multi-Site standard and IMO Fair For Life’s “Criteria for Farmer Groups”. Additionally, this standard follows the International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions, and requires legal compliance with national law and local legislation as a baseline.

We are seeking stakeholder input to this standard, using the following process:

1. We have published the standard here in English, Spanish, Portuguese and  French to enable our stakeholders to easily provide input.
2. Please use a feedback form in English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese to send your suggestions for improvements to Fair Trade USA. Send the feedback form to standards@fairtradeusa.org. Comments can also be posted in our community forum.
3. The public comment period ends April 13, 2012.

We will review all suggestions received in conjunction with Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), our technical advisor, and aim to publish a Version 1.0 of the Fair Trade USA Independent Smallholder Standard in Q3 of 2012.

Download the Vision, Objective and Summary of the Independent Smallholder Standard.  (Spanish, Portuguese and French)

Download the Fair Trade USA Independent Smallholder Standard.