Fair Trade is a third party certification that licenses out their label for brands to use and for farmers to pay into. When a brand commits to fair trade, it is committing to paying certain premiums to ensure workers are taken care of. We support the idea of Fair Trade however believe that this system could improve its traceability and effectiveness in benefitting farmers. Our direct trade program is exactly what it sounds like. We form deep partnerships with our farm partners and pay them directly without any middlemen or third party certifiers involved. As a result our farm partners are paid a respectable wage. GoodSAM also takes 1% of our topline sales and puts it directly back into the farm communities. We do this by collaborating to solve relevant problems and create lasting impact. You can find out more about our efforts through our Impact Report. 

GoodSAM’s Direct Trade program is beneficial to farmers because they are ensured a living wage, it cuts brokers and middlemen out of the system and GoodSAM invests 1% back into the communities we work with. To learn more about our Direct Trade Program, check out our Impact Report.

Regenerative agriculture is an approach to farming that incorporates all of the cycles of nature to improve soil health while also producing high quality food and fiber. This method of agriculture provides ecosystem benefits through circular farming practices that implement diverse crop rotation, incorporate animal integration, limit soil disturbance and build upon agroforestry systems.

Conventional agriculture is a prescriptive approach to farming with the goal to maximize crop or livestock yield. This method of agriculture typically relies on chemical inputs like genetically modified seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and chemical pesticides to increase farm production. This style of farming typically sacrifices soil health and can lead to negative short term and long term ecosystem outcomes.