Ben & Jerry's Fair Trade Ice Cream – With Giveaway

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we LOVE ice cream in this house. Ben & Jerry’s is one of our favorites. I love Brownie Batter and Half Baked, and was recently introduced to their FroYo. At the end of October, I learned that Ben & Jerry’s was celebrating Fair Trade Month.They promised to send me a couple of coupons and a tee for this giveaway and I didn’t find them – until now when they mysteriously appeared in my ice cream loving son’s room minus one coupon. Sorry for the delay Ben & Jerry’s! The good news is the coupons are still good and attention still needs to be focused on this news.

As with any worthy cause, I don’t believe that awareness of a cause should only be highlighted for a short period of time. I believe that it should be continuous. Ben & Jerry’s obviously feels the same way because they now offer four Fair Trade certified ice cream flavors available in pints – Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, and Chocolate Macadamia, and two more flavors in scoop shops – Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz and regular ‘ol Coffee.

For those that would like a better explanation of Fair Trade, here’s the way Ben & Jerry’s sees it.

At Ben & Jerry’s, we make it our top priority to make the best ice cream, lead with our values, and do as much good for the world as possible. So, in 2003, we began working towards a partnership with Transfair USA, a non-profit organization in the U.S. that certifies products as Fair Trade. In late 2004, we were finally able to dig our spoon into the Fair Trade realm, and began sourcing our coffee beans from the Huatusco co-op in Oaxaca, Mexico. But hold on to your pints- there’s more! In early 2007, Ben & Jerry’s began using Fair Trade certified vanilla beans as well for its regular vanilla ice cream and Fair Trade certified cocoa for its regular chocolate ice cream. Today, Ben & Jerry’s sources from several Fair Trade co-ops around the world.

What is “Fair Trade,” exactly?

One of the most well-known components of Fair Trade is that farmers are paid a livable wage. Paying a fair price for Fair Trade Certified goods empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and acquiring the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace. But did you know that there are other aspects as well? They include:

• Environmental sustainability: Farmers are not allowed to use harmful agrochemicals and GMOs. Preservation of the ecosystem surrounding these farms is very important: sustainable irrigation and crop rotation methods must be used, waste must properly be handled, and planting in virgin forests is prohibited. Also, conservation areas must be identified and left uncultivated.
• Community development: Farmers invest their premiums in social and business developments, such as scholarship programs.
• Safe working conditions: There is freedom of association between workers, and absolutely no child labor is allowed.
• Direct purchasing: Those using FT products purchase directly from the suppliers, eliminating the middlemen usually involved in trade. This, in turn, empowers farmers to develop the ability to compete in an international market.
• Democratically-handled revenue: Farmers and their workers work together in deciding how to invest their revenues.

Ndali Vanilla – an Example to Follow

In 1999, Lulu Sturdy left her home country of Britain to take over her uncle’s 1,000 acre tropical farm in the Ndali volcanic fields of Uganda. Though this move was a big change for Lulu, the results were well worth it. For the past ten years, Lulu has worked with approximately 1,000 native farmers and taught them how to grow vanilla of an exceptional quality and the skills needed to run the business.

By investing the premiums that the farmers are paid for their vanilla back into community developments, the local areas have improved dramatically.

When Lulu came to visit Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in South Burlington, Vermont, we learned just how important Fair Trade is to the local community of Ndali and have been working hard to get the word out about Fair Trade and tell the inspirational story of Ndali Vanilla.

Ben & Jerry’s is proud to support Ndali Vanilla, the farmers, and Lulu. Her inspirational story is incredibly powerful and the people of Uganda prosper through her program. Ben & Jerry’s has sourced from Ndali Vanilla since 2007 and encourages other companies and consumers to buy Fair Trade as well. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream wouldn’t be the same without it! You can raise two scoops to that!

Lulu Sturdy loves sharing her story and has made herself available (all the way from Africa) for interviews. You can also go to http://www.ndali.net/ for more information on the yummy vanilla that goes into our ice cream & how you too can get your hands on some!

Still Interested?

There’s more to this than meets the eye! Fair Trade is helping so many underdeveloped communities, like the one surrounding Ndali Vanilla. Check out http://www.transfairusa.org/ to learn more about Fair Trade (and just how much it really does for the environment) or go to www.benjerry.com and read all about our Fair Trade adventures and our other values-led ingredients.

To learn more about Ben & Jerry’s other social mission campaigns and activism, you can also check out our SEAR reports (Social and Environmental Assessment Report.) Happy ice cream!

I think it’s terrific that Ben & Jerry’s is striving to make yummy ice cream that we all love with ingredients that come from and benefit the global community. I look forward to seeing what other Fair Trade flavors they come up with.

WIN IT!

ONE winner will receive a Ben & Jerry’s tee (size adult medium) and a coupon for a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

TWO winners will each receive a coupon for a free pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a Ben & Jerry’s keychain / 1 GB flash drive..

HOW TO ENTER. (MANDATORY)

To enter visit the site and check out all of the different Ben & Jerry’s flavors . Then leave me a comment telling me the name of one flavor you love or that you’d like to try.

BONUS ENTRIES

1 – Subscribe to my newsletter. (at top of sidebar)
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1 – Tweet this giveaway.
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1 – Blog about this giveaway, including a link here.
1 – Place my button on your blog. (in sidebar)
1 – Visit HereAndThere.US (my Mom) and leave a comment on any post (except a giveaway post) there. Then return here and leave a comment on this post telling me one thing you read or learned on my Mom’s blog. (That’s two comments you need to leave for this bonus entry, one there and one here.) Unlimited entries for this method of entry.

Leave an additional comment for each entry you qualify for. You must have completed the first entry according to the instructions to be eligible for any bonus entries.

THE SMALL PRINT.

US addresses only please. This contest will end onTuesday 12/15/09 at 11:59 pm est.  If you’ve entered any of my giveaways before then you know that only comments containing all of the requested information will be eligible for entry. The winner must contact me to confirm they wish to receive the prize within two days of my email notifying them they’ve won.  Good luck to everyone!

The product(s) featured in this review was provided free of cost to me for the sole purpose of product testing and review. This review has not been monetarily compensated and is based on the views and opinions of my family and/or self. Please note that the opinions reflected in this post have not been influenced by the sponsor in any way.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.