Focus On Ethical Trading: 15 November

Focus On: Ethical Trading

By Pola Lem Pola.Lem@thegrocer.co.uk

Publishing: 15 November 2025

Advertising deadline: 31 October 2025

Submissions deadline: 3 November 2025

This September, the Rainforest Alliance unveiled its new regenerative agriculture standard. The new seal, which is meant to ensure better working conditions and ecosystem restoration, hits grocery stores early next year – starting in the coffee aisle.

• What exactly does RFA’s new scheme offer?
• And how might it change the ethical trade landscape?

Setting the bar

• How does the new seal measure up to other schemes in grocery, including the Fairtrade label and RFA’s existing certification?
• The organisation says it plans to roll out its scheme to other crops including cocoa, citrus and tea throughout 2026. What kind of uptake does it expect?
• Have any brands or retailers already expressed interest, either for coffee or in other areas?
• And what motivates them to choose one scheme versus another?

The return to Fairtrade

• Even as RFA’s new scheme gets rolling, the classic Fairtrade certification is regaining ground, with Sainsbury’s returning the Fairtrade logo to its own label tea for the first time in eight years this spring. But how is Fairtrade performing more broadly?
• And what fresh challenges does it face, given higher inflation and trade tariffs?

Innovations

• We will profile four new products or ranges, ideally ones that have not appeared in The Grocer before. We need launch date, rsp, and a hi-res picture of each.