Whole Foods Market is the sole buyer of organic and Fair Trade Certified mangoes from small Haitian growers, sometimes buying from a family with just one tree. The Whole Trade® Guarantee ensures growers receive equitable pay — a key point since this mango crop is a major source of income for many of these farmers.

Learn about the driving force behind organizing the grower groups to achieve and maintain Fair Trade and organic certifications. The Fair Trade and organic certifications increase transparency and market value, which drives better returns for growers. Here’s an earlier blog post about these great mangoes.

You can find these mangoes in Whole Foods Market stores nationwide during the varietal’s short six-to-eight week season throughout May and into June.

We’re excited to announce the arrival of our Whole Trade™ Francique (AKA Francis) mangoes from Haiti. The first shipments of the season are working their way to our stores this week. We hope to offer them throughout May, but supply is limited so we recommend you check with your local store before you make a special trip.

These are some of the best mangoes that arrive in the U.S. each year. The Francique variety is unique to Haiti and available only during a short season each spring. These are plump, juicy mangoes with lots of fruit on them. When ripe, they are soft with an orange or gold freckled skin. They have a smooth, rich flesh and distinct tropical flavor. Personally, I taste a hint of coconut.  The New York Times recently described Haitian mangoes as velvety fleshed and honeyed with a bright flavor. Whichever words you choose, we think you’ll agree these are worth a try!

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It’s been just over a year since we launched Whole Trade Pineapple, featuring fresh fruit from just four farms in Costa Rica that meet our high quality standards and the high social and environmental standards of our Whole Trade Certifier partners at the Rainforest Alliance and Fair Trade USA.

Much of our Whole Trade Organic pineapple comes from Finca Corsicana, an organic and Fair Trade Certified farm in northeast Costa Rica. Fair Trade requires that a part of our purchase price be passed through to a fund controlled directly by the workers on the farm. The workers vote on how to invest the money to benefit their communities.

When we launched the Whole Trade pineapple program, our contributions to this fund at Corsicana began accruing. One year and a lot of pineapples later, the farm workers at Corsicana are well on their way to breaking ground on their first community projects. We are in close contact with the farm and wanted to pass along this update.

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This is a reminder that we are spreading a little love around by giving away five gift baskets full of socially responsible goodies. Why? Because it feels good to give gifts that give back! And one of the lucky winners will also receive a $150 Whole Foods Market gift card to use to purchase a few bouquets of our beautiful Whole Trade roses, Fair Trade wines or ingredients for a home-cooked dinner for two.

Just enter a comment on our contest blog post (not on this post) by February 10th telling us what makes your Valentine special and you may win one of five baskets filled with Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats – from milk chocolate hearts and chocolate dipped bananas to cinnamon sugar drizzled popcorn and dark chocolate granola. Whether it’s your sweetie or your grandma, we want to hear it all! We’ll choose five comments at random to receive a Valentine gift basket.

Even if you don’t win one of the baskets, you can still celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving gifts that give back, helping spread that V-Day love around the world. Through fair prices, direct trade, community development and environmental stewardship, gifts of Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats add a new meaning to the old saying: “it’s the thought that counts.” Yes, it’s the thought…the thought that every purchase supports the workers and communities that produce the item you’re buying. From flowers and chocolates to wines and unique snacks, you can find a bundle of treats for your valentine.

Remember, tell us about your Valentine by February 10th! Go to this link to comment.



You’ll find Whole Trade™ organic Kent mangos from Peru in our stores now.

For the past few winters, we’ve offered these sweet and juicy Kent variety mangos grown by a group of small growers in northern Peru. This year, we’ve developed a more direct supply chain and are excited to offer this fruit with our Whole Trade Guarantee™, which is our commitment to ethical trade, the environment and high quality.

The mangos are grown by members of the Small Farmers Association of Tongorrape (in Spanish, Asociación de Pequeños Productores de Tongorrape, or APPT). The group was established in 1999, and today it unites approximately 140 organic farmers in the Motupe Valley of Peru, about 500 miles north of Lima. The growers of APPT farm organic mangos, bananas, passion fruit and other crops on small parcels averaging about five acres. Most members have diversified farms with multiple rotating crops, a practice which protects the soil and reduces pest pressure.

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Celebrate Valentine’s Day by giving gifts that give back, helping spread that V-Day love around the world. Through fair prices, direct trade, community development and environmental stewardship, gifts of Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats add a new meaning to the old saying: “it’s the thought that counts.” Yes, it’s the thought…the thought that every purchase supports the workers and communities that produce the item you’re buying. From flowers and chocolates to wines and unique snacks, you can find a bundle of treats for your valentine.

And to spread a little love around ourselves, we’re giving away five gift baskets full of socially responsible goodies. Why? Because it feels good to give gifts that give back! We’re giving away five baskets filled with Whole Trade and Fair Trade treats – from milk chocolate hearts and chocolate dipped bananas to cinnamon sugar drizzled popcorn and dark chocolate granola.

Just enter a comment below by February 10th telling us what makes your Valentine special. Whether it’s your sweetie or your grandma, we want to hear it all! We’ll choose five comments at random to receive a Valentine gift basket. And one of the lucky winners will also receive a $150 Whole Foods Market gift card to use to purchase a few bouquets of our beautiful Whole Trade roses, Fair Trade wines or ingredients for a home-cooked dinner for two.

Here’s the list of goodies you can look forward to in this basket of love. Even if you don’t win a basket from us, you can surprise your valentine with a sweet and meaningful treat! Read the rest of this entry »

When you visit our stores this holiday season, chances are you are going to notice some of the beautiful flowers available to dress up your home for the holidays. I’ve been partial to the Asiatic Knockout lilies, which are deep red in color with an open bloom — perfect for the holidays! These and other Whole Trade™ lilies are grown at Plantas y Flores, a floral farm in Costa Rica that I was honored to visit along with other Whole Foods Market team members in early December.

Plantas y Flores is located high in the mountains above San Jose near the Irazu volcano. The terrain is lush and steep, and the roads wind around the sides of the mountains. The elevation on the farm is around 2,100 meters, which is 6,600 feet above sea level, and on a clear day you can see the Irazu volcano. The weather was cold and rainy and we were all wearing jackets to keep warm in Costa Rica!

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With the holidays right around the corner, excitement is in the air around flowers. Our floral buyers are busy ensuring the right varieties and colors of the freshest flowers make their way to our stores, but we recently had the opportunity to meet someone who reminded us that flowers can mean so much more.

Gladys, a worker from a Fair Trade certified farm that supplies our Whole Trade Guarantee roses, came to our headquarters in Austin, Texas last month. Our produce team from across the country had gathered for a meeting, and Gladys shared her story with us.

Gladys has worked at Agrocoex, one of our Whole Trade partner farms in Ecuador, for 17 years. She explained that at Agrocoex she is able to participate in decision making and feels comfortable to express herself and her opinions. Women make up about 60% of the workforce at the farm and are valued for their work. Gladys and her coworkers have all have received training in labor rights, project development, negotiation skills and management.

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We’re excited to announce the launch of NEW Whole Trade® Costa Rican Lilies! These absolutely gorgeous flowers are grown on a Rainforest Alliance certified farm in greenhouses perched high on the side of the Irazu Volcano in Costa Rica. They thrive in the rich volcanic soil, intense sunlight, consistent temperatures and high altitude.

Not only are these lilies stunning but they also support an awesome organization. For each box of Whole Trade lilies purchased, we make an additional contribution to our friends at EARTH University in Costa Rica to support their scholarship fund. EARTH (Escuela de Agricultura de la Región Tropical Húmeda) is a non-profit, international university dedicated to the sustainable development of the tropics through education, research and outreach. EARTH specifically recruits students from poor, rural communities around the tropics and provides many students with full scholarships so they can attend. Learn more about our partnership with EARTH. Read the rest of this entry »

Congratulations to Stephanie and thank you everyone who entertained us with your stories of how hot it is where you are. Stay cool everyone!

Yep, it’s late July and hot as heck just about everywhere. Doesn’t it sound perfect to cool down with some ice-cold tea? We know! That’s why we’ve just introduced our new line of 365 Everyday Value Organic ready-to-drink teas.

Now these aren’t just your run-of-the-mill ordinary bottled teas. These new teas are organic and Whole Trade®, which ensures the ingredients are grown with a commitment to ethical trade, the environment and quality products. And 1% of the sale of Whole Trade products benefits the Whole Planet Foundation™. That’s doing good twice (three times if you count the good it does you to drink great tea!).

A majority of our tea leaves are grown in China and India — both known for their superior quality in tea leaf production — and our teas are bottled in the USA using 45% post consumer recycled plastic. We’ve created four flavored and lightly sweetened 16-ounce bottled teas and two unsweetened 64-ounce value options. Here’s the rundown:

In 16-ounce bottles:

• Organic Mint Green Tea
• Organic Lemon Black Tea
• Organic Peach Oolong Tea
• Organic Mango Acai White Tea

In 64-ounce containers:

• Organic Green Tea
• Organic Black Tea

We encourage everyone to give these great teas a try, and we’re going to jump start some supercharged cooling by choosing one reader to win a case of these delightful teas. Tell us why it’s sooooo hot where you are and why you think you should win the case of tea. We’re going to choose one winner at random but hey, make your story good ‘cause we want to sit back with a fun read and an ice-cold glass of tea. Enter your comment by August 4th.