What is Fair Trade Organic Coffee?
First, a little background. Coffee is the second largest money-making commodity in the world. It is second only to oil. This means that it is big business. Really BIG business. Large companies are in business to make money, and they will produce this profitable commodity as economically as they can in order to meet their financial goals. Unfortunately, their goal of making money does not benefit workers who are engaged in the production and harvesting process. Coffee plantations pay as little as possible for labor. And since most of these plantations are not in industrialized countries, there are workers who are severely underpaid and overworked. It is just a fact of life when the only jobs available take advantage of those who labor. Another negative fact about big business is that it is easier to strip the vegetation off the land and use chemical fertilizers to “put back” necessary soil nutrients than it is to allow the cash crop to grow as nature intended. Fair Trade Organic Coffee
