--- In [email protected], anonymousff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Next time you take a sip of that delicious coffee, > (the world's second biggest traded commodity after oil) > bear in mind, that for every $3 latte sold, only > 3 cents(!) goes back to the farmer who produced the coffee. > > We in western countries have been exploiting for years, either > knowingly or unknowingly, the coffee producers, through > unfair WTO policies, which ensure that virtual slave > labour is utilised to satisfy the unquenchable > caffeine addiction of consumers in developed countries. > > In Costa Rica, for example, the cost of producing coffee is about > 80 cents per pound. The standard going rate for coffee is only > 60 cents per pound. To earn even a subsistence standard > of living, farmers need to earn $1.20 per pound. Fair > Trade International pays 3000 of the coffee farmers in > Costa Rica, a fair price for their coffee, $1.20 per pound, > but that leaves another 59,000 farmers who are still forced to > exist on unfair returns for their hard labour. > Organisations such as Oxfam, are doing their best to > raise awareness of this issue, and to remedy the situation. > > Sooner or later, our coffee karma will catch up with > us............
I heard a Washington state apple farmer last night say that he receives $2.00 / 40 lb box of apples gross and that the washing, packing, and sorting fees are often more than a $1.20. (These apples sell for $1.99/lb in the store - $80.00 /box) This is because of cheap foreign apples. Since they are locked into only 5 major distributors in the US they are screwed. So it's not just Costa Ricians having trouble with coffee. JohnY JohnY To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
