Americans consume plenty of coffee. Some people cannot even be fully awake without a cup of coffee in the morning. Many people will need more than a cup of coffee during the day. In fact we consume so much coffee that we are responsible for one fifth of the world's coffee consumption. That will mean that we are the main economic supporter of the coffee industry.



However, not many Americans will know about how the coffee is grown, harvested and shipped to our shores. It is really convenient to just get it almost anywhere, thanks to the growing popularity of many coffee joints.

The Fair Trade coffee organization would like to inform coffee drinkers more about the process. They are not intending that we learn how to grow coffee but about the plight of the coffee workers.

In many of these coffee producing countries, farmers are often paid less for the cost of farming coffee. These farmers will not have enough to re-finance the land and support their families, thus driving them deeper into the cycle of poverty and debt.

The Fair Trade coffee movement was started to counter this and to assure consumers that these coffees were purchased at reasonable prices. These fine quality coffees were produced in a different way than normal coffee beans. While many coffee farmers were being treated unfairly in the plantations, the Fair Trade Coffee will ensure its farmers and workers who harvested them are being treated fairly. Work conditions are regulated and sufficient compensations are ensured.

These coffee farmers are the best stewards of the farm land. When you sustain Fair Trade coffee movement, you support the environment. Fair Trade farmers will not clear the forests, buy chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Usually they grow small plots of mixed crop, shade grown coffee organically.

The Fair Trade Coffee will help us find the best coffee produced under the right conditions through a certification procedure. A Fair Trade Certified importer will need to pay a minimum price for the coffee so as to provide the much needed financing and research into better coffee farming methods. Many major coffee companies like StarBucks are offering Fair Trade Certified coffees.

Fair Trade Certified coffees are reasonably priced and the difference in price is only minimal. Join the cause and this can go a long way in maintaining constant supply of quality coffee. the money will goes into community improvement, health care, education to these coffee workers and their families. It is for a good cause.