Bruce Crowther

Bruce Crowther has made an extraordinary contribution to the sustainable development of farming in the developing world by creating a nationwide movement of Fairtrade Towns. Bruce is the founder of the Garstang Oxfam Group, which campaigns on many issues affecting global poverty such as fair trade, and has fashioned the concept of Fairtrade Towns.

In 1992 Bruce founded the Garstang Oxfam Group, which he chaired until 2002. Whilst the group campaigned on many issues affecting global poverty, it was the issue of fair trade that caught Bruce's attention. He devised the Café Direct challenge to dispel myths that Fairtrade products were too expensive and of poor quality - he invited Garstang's most prominent folk to a meal made entirely of Fairtrade products and locally produced food. He didn't expect the guests to contribute financially but to start using the products in their schools, churches, shops and businesses. The event was hugely successful so Bruce devised a plan to enable Garstang to become a Fairtrade Town.

As a result of Bruce's work, Garstang was declared a Fairtrade Town and twinned with the cocoa farming community of New Koforidua in Ghana. This increased the public's recognition of the Fairtrade mark in Garstang to over 70%, compared to a national average at that time of just 20%.

The National Fairtrade Town initiative resulted from the success of Garstang. Over 100 towns, cities, villages, islands, boroughs,counties and zones have now received Fairtrade status, and an estimated further 240 places are working to achieve the Fairtrade title. Bruce's initiative has led to the first Fairtrade Capital Cities, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast with London waiting in the aisles. The scheme has been adopted in the Republic of Ireland and Belgium, and it's hoped that other countries will follow.

The Fairtrade Town initiative, thanks to Bruce, is changing the way people shop and how they view Fairtrade. Buying more Fairtrade labelled products guarantees a price to farmers and contributes to the sustainable development of the developing world.

"It is a great initiative by Garstang. Not just on behalf of myself, nor just on behalf of the Department for International Development, but on behalf of the government, I would really like to welcome what is a great initiative by Bruce, by Oxfam and the town. I want to try to ensure that the initiative is followed in many other towns and cities throughout the whole of England."

George Foulkes, MP

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