What is the difference between fairtrade and organic?

Many Fairtrade certified products in Australia and New Zealand are also organically certified.   The Fairtrade certification ensures Fairtrade criteria such as democratic decision making, decent working conditions and a fair price are met while organic certification is a guarantee that the environmental requirements of organic agriculture standards are met.  While most people understand organic agriculture as the prohibition of synthetic agrochemicals, there are other key components including nature conservation by prohibiting the clearing of primary ecosystems, biodiversity preservation, soil and water conservation, no GMOs, crop diversity, soil fertility and biological activity among others. Organic certification standards generally do not cover social justice or fair trade issues in any detail.

Many Fairtrade certified producers use the Fairtrade premium to invest in environmental projects, including extension support for organic agriculture.  In this way, they use Fairtrade as a capacity building tool to improve environmental performance and gain additional market certifications at the same time.   45% of Fairtrade certified producers are also certified organic and this trend seems to be growing.