Poor Farmer

From March 2012 edition of Fair Trade Movement Newsletter FTRN February 29, 2012 On February 14, FTRN produced Webinar 121: "Should Hired Labor Plantations Be Included in Fair Trade?". The 2 panelists were Ed Canty, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Fair Trade Organic Coffee Buyer; and Rodney North, Equal Exchange, The Answer Man - Information for the Public & Media. You can download the 50-min recording of webinar 121, or register for upcoming webinars, at   FTRN webinars   A few of the speakers' main points from the webinar include comments below. Ed : We support FTUSA efforts to innovate; including more producers in the model AND strengthening current FT groups. We believe there is much to learn from FTUSA's Pilot programs. There is a need. Migrant workers without land are quite needy, but is it appropriate that Fair Trade address them? Bringing more groups into Fair Trade system could add traceability and accountability to a...

ForexPros February 22, 2012  Forexpros - Coffee futures resumed their downward trend on Wednesday, moving closer to last week’s 15-month low as speculation of a record Brazil crop continued to dampen sentiment on the commodity. On the ICE Futures Exchange, Arabica coffee for May delivery traded at USD2.0403 a pound during European afternoon trade, shedding 0.79%. It earlier fell by as much as 1.1% to trade at a session low USD2.0353 a pound. Last week, coffee prices dropped below the USD2.00-a-pound level for the first time since November 2010 as traders eyed a huge harvest in top grower Brazil and speculators pushed prices lower. German coffee trader Neumann Kaffee Gruppe on Tuesday forecast Brazil's upcoming 2012-13 Arabica coffee crop to reach 55.0 million bags. That would exceed a record 48.5 million bags in 2002. A bag of coffee weighs 60 kilos (132 pounds). Most coffee harvesting in Brazil starts in May. Brazil is the world's largest produc...

A boutique coffee supplier has accused Australia's largest coffee company of anti-competitive conduct. AAP via news.com.au February 21. 2011 Di Bella Coffee has gone to the competition watchdog over what it says is an aggressive incentive campaign by coffee giant Vittoria. In a complaint to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, Brisbane-based Di Bella says Vittoria is offering its customers huge incentives, including up to a year of free coffee, to switch suppliers. Di Bella argues customers who accept the incentives may be locked into damaging long-term contracts. "We do not believe Vittoria is properly explaining the conditions and consequences for customers signing up for long-term supply contracts," the owner and founder of Di Bella Coffee, Phillip Di Bella, said today. "We will be strongly pursuing whatever legal channels necessary to have Vittoria fully disclose all conditions and consequences of their offers to custo...