Clipper Teas and Fairtrade Foundation support sustainable farming methods

Ethical and organic tea company, Clipper, is working with the Fairtrade Foundation to showcase the sustainable farming methods used on Clipper’s Fairtrade tea estates that have a positive impact on people and the planet.

The theme of this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight is climate justice. It will focus on how climate change affects farmers and how Fairtrade supports them to achieve long-term environmental sustainability.  

This Fairtrade Fortnight, Clipper teas will be taking part in Fairtrade Fortnight’s free online Choose the World You Want festival of events and activities to entertain, educate and inspire, and highlight the harmful effect of the climate crisis on farmers and food supplies.

One of the founding Fairtrade brands, Clipper has been buying tea on Fairtrade terms directly from the tea estates it works with for over 25 years. It was the UK’s first Fairtrade tea company and today is the world’s largest.

The company also supports approximately 114,000 producers and their families around the world through Fairtrade practices and in the last 14 years, Clipper has paid over £4m in Fairtrade premiums.

These premiums are an additional sum of money which ensure Fairtrade tea workers always get a fair deal. This means they always receive fair pay for themselves and their families, and it’s this additional income which allows producers to implement the use of sustainable farming methods which protects the local environment and boosts natural biodiversity. 

The premium generated, from sales of products, such as Clipper, enable tea growers to adopt organic farming methods and invest in adapting to climate challenges.

At the organic tea gardens in India, these positive changes in farming and farmers’ ability to invest in nature preservation have seen the emergence of wild bison, black panthers and rare orchid species.

Caroline Rose, Clipper Teas brand controller at Ecotone UK, says:

We’re proud that by having a long-term buying partnership with our tea estates through Fairtrade, our farmers have the confidence to invest in organic and sustainable agriculture. This has a number of environmental benefits. It helps to slow global warming through improving soil health, encourages native wildlife and diversity and protects vital insect life. It also stops harmful pesticides getting into the water system. This Fairtrade Fortnight and beyond, we want to encourage consumers to brew the right thing and choose tea that not only tastes great, but is also made in harmony with nature and helps to improve the lives of the people who pick it.

Clipper remains driven to protecting the planet and its people, which is why it became the world’s first tea company to switch to plant-based, biodegradable, non-GM and unbleached tea bags.

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