Today sees the start of Fair Trade fortnight.

There’s more to Fair Trade than just food. It’s not just bananas, cocoa and coffee; Fair Trade can apply to clothes and even toys.

It’s about partnership with the suppliers in developing countries, making sure they get a fair price for their products, whilst ensuring decent working conditions and fair terms of trade, even for the smaller producers.

There are those who claim that retailers are jumping on the proverbial bandwagon to sell us Fair Trade products, but does it matter if they are? Fair Trade sales reached nearly £500 million in the UK last year and that’s down to consumers voting with their wallets to make a difference.

Certified Fair Trade products are easy to spot – they’re allowed to carry the Fairtrade Foundation’s mark.

The Fairtrade Foundation’s message for Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 is that, whilst sales of Fairtrade products continue to soar, change is still not happening quickly enough for the millions of the world’s poorest farmers who remain trapped in ‘trade poverty’. With 2 billion working people earning less than US$2 a day and many of these producing the products we put in our shopping baskets, the Fairtrade Foundation believes that it is critical to increase the momentum for change through Fairtrade in 2008.

Some argue that Fair Trade could be fairer, as much of the profit is still in the processing of the raw materials, which is often done in developed countries. As shoppers, we need to keep putting pressure on the major (and smaller) brands to do as much as possible to support the growers. In the meantime, Fair Trade at least ensures the farmers are getting a fairer deal.

The Fairtrade Foundation expects there to be over 10,000 local events during the fortnight. Find out if there’s a Fairtrade event near you. There’s a Fair Trade bus touring the country and local events range from coffee mornings and wine tasting to concerts and talks with producers.