| Coffee is harvested by hand on mountain slopes by cooperative members and community workers. When the cooperative can sell their produce to fair trade companies, they can make a better wage than if their coffee is sold on the open market (coffee is a highly traded commodity, second only to oil on the world market). Fair trade coffee companies like Equal Exchange pay at least $1.26 U.S. per pound for conventionally grown coffee and $1.41 U.S. for organically grown coffee--often twice as much as farmers would receive otherwise. Cooperatives such as Las Colinas and other Equal Exchange suppliers eliminate exploitive middle men. |
