> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://cocoaradar.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Fairtrade Launches UK Fair Pay Campaign As Climate Threatens Food Supplies - URL: https://cocoaradar.com/fairtrade-launches-uk-fair-pay-campaign-as-climate-threatens-food-supplies/ - Published: 2026-09-23T14:01:15.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-23T14:01:15.000Z - Description: Fairtrade Fortnight campaign calls for living incomes for overseas farmers, as new polling finds widespread concern about climate change, food security and prices amid renewed pressure on UK household budgets - Author: Anthony Myers - Tags: Fairtrade Foundation, climate change The Fairtrade Foundation has launched a UK campaign for better pay and stronger legal protections for overseas farmers, warning that poverty is limiting their ability to protect crops from increasingly severe weather. The Fair Pay Campaign, launched during Fairtrade Fortnight, which runs from 21 September to 4 October, focuses on the farmers producing tea, coffee, cocoa and bananas for the UK market. Fairtrade is calling on shoppers and businesses to support higher payments to producers. It also wants the UK Government to introduce Human Rights and Environmental Due Diligence legislation requiring companies to address harms linked to their supply chains. Advertisement [ ![Foodmasters-innovation-experience](https://storage.ghost.io/c/42/e5/42e56cb4-2135-4886-b7a8-860153b64965/content/images/size/w1400/format/webp/2025/12/FMF-Newsletter-Banner-300x250px-300dpi-251128.jpg) ](https://www.foodmasters-freiberg.com/en/?utm%5Fsource=ghost&utm%5Fmedium=newsletter&utm%5Fcampaign=ad&utm%5Fcontent=qsm%5Fplaceholder) The campaign follows research Kantar conducted for the charity, which found that 84% of British adults were concerned about the effect of climate change on the UK’s food supply. More than a quarter, 26%, said they were “much more concerned” following the summer’s heatwaves and droughts in the UK and Europe. Among people aged 16 to 24, 69% said the summer had made them more worried about climate change's effects on food. The Fairtrade-commissioned study also found that 56% of respondents were aware that climate change was contributing to higher prices for products such as coffee, tea and chocolate. A further 34% were not aware of the connection. ### Farmers Face Rising Adaptation Costs Fairtrade said recent weather disruption had affected several of the supply chains on which British consumers depend. It cited flooding affecting coffee producers in Sumatra, strong winds damaging banana plantations in Colombia and hailstorms reducing tea yields by about a third for some smallholders in Kericho, Kenya. The charity argues that farmers earning below a living income cannot invest adequately in irrigation, shade trees, soil restoration and crop diversification. Such measures can reduce producers’ exposure to rainfall disruption, extreme temperatures and other climate-related risks. Martin Kinyua, a coffee farmer and manager at the Mutira Coffee Cooperative in Kenya, said unpredictable rainfall was making it increasingly difficult for farmers to plan their work. “Climate change is one of the biggest challenges that we are facing as a cooperative and as smallholder farmers,” he said. > “When you cannot predict the seasons, you cannot plan when to buy or apply inputs, and that affects the entire harvest. It is only thanks to the fairer price we receive by selling on Fairtrade terms that we have been able to take measures to adapt to the changing climate and continue growing coffee.” Fairtrade said 74% of respondents supported increasing payments to tea, coffee, cocoa and banana farmers to help them respond to climate change. Among people who buy takeaway coffee, 65% said they would pay a few pence more if it helped farmers protect future supplies. ### Inflationary Pressures Bite The findings nevertheless arrive at a difficult time for household finances. UK inflation rose from 2.9% in July to 3.1% in August after higher energy costs fed through to fuel and travel prices, according to official figures reported by the Guardian. The newspaper reported that motor fuel prices rose by 23%, with petrol averaging 161.3p a litre and diesel 181.8p. The renewed increase in inflation, alongside the prospect of higher borrowing costs, adds to the pressure on households already dealing with years of elevated food and energy prices. Fairtrade’s research found that 78% of respondents were concerned about climate change affecting the prices of products they regularly buy. That backdrop creates a central difficulty for the campaign: the cost of strengthening producers’ resilience ultimately has to be absorbed somewhere in the supply chain, while both farmers and British consumers face tight budgets. ![Image shows a typical coffee shop to isslutrate use of Arabica Coffe](https://storage.ghost.io/c/42/e5/42e56cb4-2135-4886-b7a8-860153b64965/content/images/2026/09/robert-bye-F2eHfMwIOxA-unsplash.jpg) The Arabica coffee bean commonly used by coffee shops is sensitive to rising temperatures. Image: Robert Bye/Unsplash ### **Coffee Supply Under Pressure** Coffee illustrates the imbalance Fairtrade is seeking to address. The charity said many of the estimated 125 million people dependent on coffee farming live on £1 to £2 a day. It also claimed that producers typically retain about 4p from a £3.70 cup of coffee sold in the UK, equivalent to roughly 1% of its retail price. At the same time, Arabica coffee, the variety commonly used by coffee shops, is sensitive to rising temperatures. Fairtrade warned that suitable growing areas are shrinking, increasing the importance of investment in adaptation. Coffee also appears difficult for many consumers to give up: 43% of those surveyed said they would find going without it for a week very difficult. > Eleanor Harrison, chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, said fair pay was necessary to build more resilient food supply chains. “If we want resilient food supplies, we must invest in the people who produce our food,” she said. “Paying farmers fairly, both in the UK and around the world, is not just the right thing to do; it is essential to securing the crops and products we all rely on.” The organisation is also pressing the UK Government to act on responsible business practices. Fairtrade said more than 107,000 people had signed its[ petition for a responsible business law](https://action.fairtrade.org.uk/page/186243/petition/1?ea.tracking.id=2026-do-it-fair-web-doitfair&ref=cocoaradar.com). Advertisement [ ![Premium Nigerian Cocoa from Unifacto](https://storage.ghost.io/c/42/e5/42e56cb4-2135-4886-b7a8-860153b64965/content/images/size/w1400/format/webp/2026/08/Unifacto_Add.png) ](https://unifacto-cocoa.com/contact-us/?ref=cocoaradar.com) Hundreds of events, including campaign coffee mornings, are scheduled across the UK during Fairtrade Fortnight. ### **CocoaRadar View** The campaign connects two forms of financial vulnerability: low producer incomes in agricultural economies and strained household budgets in the UK. Public willingness to pay more could help, but voluntary consumer choices alone are unlikely to determine how additional value is distributed. The commercial test will be whether retailers, brands and policymakers can improve producer incomes without placing a disproportionate burden on consumers already facing renewed inflation. --- [ ![CR Peru Week](https://storage.ghost.io/c/42/e5/42e56cb4-2135-4886-b7a8-860153b64965/content/images/2026/08/uZFqHZHfNrtL87990cCJbLocRibO0h5hJ25mrLPM.webp) ](https://cocoaradar.com/advertise/) Sponsored feature ### [CocoaRadar in Peru ](https://cocoaradar.com/advertise/) During October 2026, CocoaRadar will publish a series of articles exploring the Peruvian cocoa economy. **Commercial:** [philippe@cocoaradar.com](mailto:philippe@cocoaradar.com) · **Editorial:** [tony@cocoaradar.com](mailto:tony@cocoaradar.com)