third-party certifications that many
major retailers and industrial clients
demand today. Then he got the call
from Dr. Bronner’s, and by 2006, he
was working with the organic personal
care company and Switzerland-based
certifier IMO to certify to both Fair For
Life and USDA Organic standards.
Because most olive farmers in Palestine didn’t use chemicals in the first
place, they were able to cut down the
three-year transition period, and others who needed more time to transition to organic were still able to sell
their product as fair trade, helping balance some of the cost associated with
transitioning.
Dr. Bronner’s agreed to purchase
60 metric tons (MT) of olive oil and
over the years scaled up to 200 MT,
making it still the largest buyer of
Canaan’s olive oil today. In addition,
the company has sponsored Canaan
Fair Trade for grants from the Dutch
government to provide funds for olive
oil bottling machinery, several dozen
5,000-liter stainless steel oil storage
tanks and an olive pickling line. These
funds are also helping Canaan achieve
ISO22000 food safety certification for
its olive oil processing.
While there had been some success
selling to nonprofits and smaller
groups in the United States and
Canada prior to gaining organic and
fair trade certification, taking this step
greatly improved Canaan Fair Trade’s
marketability. In 2007, Canaan was
now able to participate in BioFach, the
world’s largest organic trade show—
quite literally opening up a whole new
world of opportunity. Co-op Denmark
saw Canaan Fair Trade at the show and
soon launched the brand in 15
stores—and by the end of 2011,
Canaan Fair Trade will be in all 700 of
the chain’s locations.
All of this together has dramatically
changed the farmers’ economic situation; olive oil that used to be sold to
local traders for 8 shekels per kilo in
2004 is now going for 20 shekels per kilo for fair trade and 22 shekels for organic fair trade, and the overall market price for olive oil in Palestine has risen
to 16 shekels.
In 2008, Canaan also certified to the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations
(FLO) standards, enabling them to work with other processors that seek this fair
trade label.
In addition to organic and fair trade, another value add, says Abufarha, is the
fact that the product is produced in Palestine. “People feel good knowing that
they are helping support a cause that is meaningful.”
