Saturday night audiences love his dramatic commentary on celebrity hoofing and now Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli is lending his lyrical language to Fairtrade Fortnight to urge consumers to ‘Go Further’, the new campaign in support of small producers.

“I’m proud to be supporting this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight to demand that the government does more for small farmers,” says choreographer Tonioli. He joins fellow celebrities Richard Hammond, Levi Roots, and Dermot O’Leary, who have all given support to the campaign, launched this week in the run up to the G8 Summit in June, in Northern Ireland.

Another long-time supporter of Fairtrade Fortnight, supplier UNIVEG Katope UK, is also celebrating 10 years of ethical trading. The Fairtrade produce company is responsible for introducing a number of Fairtrade ‘World Firsts’ to the UK market from Chilean grapes in 2009 to Brazilian melons in 2010. It too will be raising awareness of the difference buying Fairtrade products makes to small producers.

This combined call to action comes off the back of a Fairtrade report, Powering up Smallholder Farmers to Make Food Fair, which estimates that 500 million smallholder farmers who currently produce 70 per cent of the food we eat. While Britain leads the world on Fairtrade, the reality is that smallholders are only receiving an average of three per cent of the retail price on shop shelves.“The food system is broken. It is not working for consumers and it is not working for the people who produce our food,” says The Fairtrade Foundation’s new CEO Michael Gidney, who is keen to highlight the connection between the dissatisfaction felt at both ends of the supply chain. “If these farmers are in crisis, the whole food system is in crisis. And we may have to start imagining a world without many of the foods we love and take for granted each day.”

Despite Gidney’s forewarnings, in the last year Fairtrade appears to be going from strength to strength. The London 2012 games sourced 100 per cent Fairtrade tea, coffee, sugar and bananas, while Scotland recently became the second Fairtrade Nation after Wales. New figures released this week report the industry is now worth over £1.5 billion in the UK, with a growth of 19 per cent over the last year, despite the economic downturn tightening grips on pockets. With big franchises on board like The Co-operative, whose bananas are 100 percent Fairtrade and, as of this week, only sell Fairtrade roses, the market for ethical consumer products is undeniable. “With a third of people now buying Fairtrade bananas, it gives such strength to our argument. It sends such a clear message to the companies that don’t have a commitment to Fairtrade”, says campaign group Banana Link’s Jacqui Mackay.

Looking forward Gidney is hoping to build on a growing appetite among consumers for Fairtrade goods in a three-year strategy to build the industries worth to over £2 million by 2015 and sustain pressure on government to provide fairer trading conditions. “People are voting with their shopping baskets, and forward-thinking businesses are responding to this. But current commitments still don’t go far enough to bring about the change that will fix our broken food system,” he adds.—