From Fonio to Florists: Regenerative Business in Action

May 17, 2025

As global supply chains face growing scrutiny, Fairtrade, while not perfect, continues to offer a practical framework for building equity, sustainability, and resilience from the ground up. This week’s edition explores how regenerative practices are being reshaped through fair trade—from farms to florists, cocoa to coffee, and now, beer. Our featured article dives into Brewgooder’s work building the first Fairtrade-certified fonio supply chain, linking smallholder farmers in Guinea to a global brewing market.

Across the Essential Reads, we see Fairtrade not just as a certification, but as a stepping stone for innovation and consumer engagement. From yoga-powered awareness campaigns to ethical chocolates and flowers, these stories show how Fairtrade is evolving to meet the moment—whether it’s driving retail demand, reshaping leadership, or exposing blind spots in legacy systems.

In the Research Corner, a compelling study from the Academy of Management Journal illustrates the time tensions within fair trade organizations, showing how adapting temporal structures can better align market goals with development realities.

Let’s delve into how regenerative trade is taking root—and scaling impact across industries.

Featured Article:

My Forbes article highlights an emerging development in sustainable brewing: Brewgooder, a UK-based ethical brewery, has launched the world’s first Fairtrade-certified supply chain for fonio—a resilient, drought-tolerant grain grown in West Africa. The initiative not only introduces the first Fairtrade fonio beer, Fonio Session IPA, but also opens up a new path for smallholder farmers in Guinea by linking them directly to international markets.

Fonio’s rapid growth cycle and minimal water needs make it especially suitable for regions facing climate stress. By creating an “open grain” supply chain, Brewgooder aims to share this innovation with brewers worldwide, helping scale its impact. Founder Alan Mahon emphasizes that this collaboration goes beyond profit—it’s about shared prosperity and sustainable development. The model addresses longstanding barriers like poor infrastructure, low productivity, and limited market access, while promoting fair compensation and knowledge-sharing across farming cooperatives.

Brewgooder’s work demonstrates how ethical innovation can unlock regenerative potential across industries.

Essential Reads:

Ethical Blooms

Ahead of major holidays like Valentine’s and Mother’s Day, Fairtrade flowers are in high demand as consumers seek ethical options in a $50 billion global industry. With concerns over labor conditions and environmental impact, Fairtrade certification ensures fair wages, safer work, and community benefits. Retailers are blending Fairtrade imports with local sourcing to balance ethics, variety, and sustainability.

Soil Pact

Fairtrade International marked World Soil Day by partnering with CIFOR-ICRAF to strengthen climate resilience and agroecology in supply chains like cocoa and coffee. The five-year collaboration aims to support smallholder farmers, advance sustainability policy, and promote soil health for better livelihoods and environmental protection through science-backed, nature-based solutions.

Shared Impact

Episode 30 of Sustainability Uncovered explores how partnerships, including Fairtrade’s Shared Impact Model, help businesses scale ethical sourcing. Featuring leaders from BSI, Reckitt, and the Fairtrade Foundation, the episode reveals how collaboration—beyond traditional philanthropy—can drive systemic change across supply chains, tackle competition barriers, and foster long-term social and environmental progress.

Fairtrade Pulse

In 2025, Fairtrade label awareness rose by 118% in the U.S., with 91% of informed shoppers regularly buying Fairtrade products. Consumers are willing to pay more for ethical goods, driven by values like reduced pesticide use, no child labor, and better wages. With over 30,000 certified products, Fairtrade continues reshaping global commerce with purpose.

Research Corner:

This study from the Academy of Management Journal explores how Fairtrade International navigates tensions between market-driven "clock-time" logic and the slower, uncertain rhythms of human development. Through ethnographic research, the authors introduce “ambitemporality”—the ability to operate across conflicting temporal logics. It shows how organizations can adapt by rethinking time as a strategic and cultural tool to bridge development and market goals.

The regenerative business practices and sustainability innovations highlighted in this week's Regenerative Insights directly tackle the critical issues of corporate responsibility explored in my recent book explored in my recent book, The Profiteers: How Business Privatizes Profit and Socializes Cost.

Quick Takeaways:

Fair cocoa: Living income pricing fights child labor.
Fair flowers: Ethical blooms gain seasonal traction.
Soil health: Agroecology boosts climate resilience.
Shared impact: Partnerships scale ethical sourcing.
Informed demand: Shoppers increasingly choose Fairtrade.

Regenerative Insights