What is Fair Trade Coffee
Hi I’m Saundra Diardichuk with WatchMojo.com.
Today, I’m going to talk to you about the second most valuable commodity next to oil in the world, coffee. There are approximately over 25 million coffee workers and farmers and over 50 countries that produce coffee in the world. Countries such as Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Ethiopia.
Coffee producers are kept in a cycle of poverty and debt, due to current global economy that exploits cheap labor. In recent years, new cafés and coffee franchises have been opening at an explosive rate. So, although there is a greater demand, coffee farmers are not profiting from these great demands. They have to sell to middlemen and these middlemen are known as Coyotes. They sell their coffee at a lower market rate, and so, the coffee farmers are still debt poor in a cycle of poverty.
Fair Trade Coffee is changing that. There’s a Fair Trade movement that started in the 1950’s that is eliminating or has been eliminating middlemen and bringing up prices of coffee for farmers.
In 1997, a group was formed called, Fair Trade Labeling Organization. What it does is it sets prices and criteria for products not only for coffee, but for other products such as tea, sugar and bananas. Eighty-five percent of Fair Trade Coffee is organically grown. Therefore, there’s no pesticides or chemicals, more environmentally safe and healthy to drink.
So, you might think Fair Trade Coffee is expensive, but in fact it’s not, it’s quite affordable. Now, with the general awareness and higher demands, it’s not so expensive to drink, and if you do buy it, you’ll be supporting a really good cause.
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