Fairtrade dilemma

Fairtrade Fortnight has just started and I'm sure there will be lots of coverage in the press and in the shops encouraging us all to 'buy fair' to support small scale workers and farners in the developing world. The on-going debate about the sustainability of high versus low density farming will also no doubt be raised. As a long-time customer of the organic food delivery company, Abel & Cole, I'm a keen supporter of their mostly locally grown and in season, UK fruit and veg. Though I read recently that UK farmers and growers are comparatively so much better off than their developing world counterparts, with EU subsidies etc, that I'd be better advised to spend more of my money on fruit and veg flown in from overseas, despite the airmiles, thus supporting those workers for whom a consistent market for their harvest really is a matter of life or death. So could it be out with the carrots and swede and in with the mange tout and French beans ?
One answer to the quandry is to 'grow your own', which I attempt to do, having dug up half my back lawn for vegetable beds a few years ago. Although I never have quite enough time to prepare the ground as well as I should nor propagate enough seedlings, I always manage to grow something that re-pays my labours - if not in cash, certainly in satisfaction. I'm just truly grateful that as a recreational gardener, I don't have to rely on my patch to feed me and my family as so many others across the world do.