 Hi, I'm Jane. I'm the editor-in-chief here at Food Unfolded, and today we're going to explore some of the most glaring issues within the conventional trading system. In low-income regions, small-scale agriculture is the biggest source of income, job, and food security for around 70% of households. Although much of the world's agriculture is supplied by small-scale farms, its producers and workers are often left vulnerable to higher levels of risk, imbalanced bargaining power, and unfair trading practices. The trading system is complex and full of different actors and risks. Within trade, you have producers, buyers, like manufacturers, suppliers, or traders, transporters, and distributors, for example wholesale retailers or grocery stores. Each having their own sets of risks like pest infestations, transport availability, and loss in product quality and quantity. All these actors are exposed to the usual market risks of demand, price, etc. If each group has its own risks, what makes small-scale producers in low-income regions so much more vulnerable? Small-scale farmers are often exposed to uninsured risk, especially if they are from poorer regions with less developed market infrastructure. They often lack access to information about market price, demand, and alternative trading channels. This already puts small-scale producers at a lower bargaining position with buyers, especially if they are trading as individual smallholders with larger, more established buyers. Within a globalized trading system where written contracts and conditions are commonplace, small-scale producers may face additional challenges of enforcing agreements, as they may be accustomed to a trade culture based off of informal verbal agreements and interpersonal relationships. Producing quality food in high quantities can be difficult and costly for small-scale producers. On top of the usual risks of drought, flood, hail, pest attacks, and diseases, many smallholders still have production costs, whether it's investing in land, pest deterrents, agricultural technologies, and systems, or even hired labor if they don't have enough helping hands in the family. These production costs only increase as producers adapt to problems caused by climate change, like increased water scarcity and natural disasters. While production costs grow, small-scale producers have additional pressure from a volatile market. Producers may have higher demand and market prices in one month, but then drop in demand and price in another. These fluctuations ultimately affect the revenue of small-scale producers, whether for better or for worse. When it's for the worse, small-scale producers are impacted more intensely than any other actor in the trading chain. Sometimes market prices even drop below production costs. This means a loss for small-scale farmers, which can be frustrating when you understand that many of these producers are already living in poverty conditions. Such strained finances and resources consequently impact farm workers and laborers, whether in the form of unfair pay, illegal labor, or bad working conditions. And these are only some of the issues of inequality in the trading system, not to mention issues with price manipulation and buyer defaults. Fair trade was a movement born to challenge and end the inequities in the trading system. By empowering small-scale producers and workers through fair trading conditions, today there are different certification systems that are part of this movement, most notably of which is, well, fair trade. We'll explore more of the fair trade model, how and if it works, this week.