Buy Fair Trade Coffee
(in Northeast Ohio)
YOU can help impoverished farming communities by choosing fairly traded coffee.
Coffee is the world's second-largest traded commodity, only after oil. However, coffee farmers worldwide live in extreme poverty with wildly fluctuating coffee prices. Large corporations and middlemen take huge profits at the expense of farmers in developing countries. Farmers are forced to produce inferior product, sell their coffee at a loss, use farming methods that ruin their soil, or give up farming altogether.
What does Fair Trade mean for the farmer?
Fair trade helps farmers to lift themselves out of the poverty cycle. In addition to paying a fair price, it ensures:
- Fair labor conditions (safe working conditions, no child labor, living wage)
- Direct trade (eliminating "middleman" markups)
- Farmers decide democratically how to invest Fair Trade revenues
- Community development (building hospitals, schools, training for better farming practices)
- Environmental sustainability (farmers are taught methods that protect farmers' health and preserve valuable ecosystems for future generations)
Isn't that coffee really expensive?
You might be pretty pleased with that deal you found on the big can of coffee at the store. But consider:
- Non-Fair trade coffee farmers receive an average of 20¢/lb for their coffee
- Fair trade coffee farmers receive at least $1.36/lb for their coffee - and $1.51/lb if it's Certified Organic.
- It costs YOU 6¢ to make a cup of fair trade coffee at home.
- Most fair trade coffee is comparable in price to gourmet specialty coffees.
Where to Buy Equal Exchange Fair Trade Coffee in Northeast Ohio
| Akron | Mustard Seed Market Vaccaro's Trattoria |
| Cleveland | Cleveland Food Co-op Dave's Supermarket (select) |
| Cleve. Hts. | Goodies Revive (2248 Lee Rd.) Zagara's Marketplace |
| Cuy. Hts. | EarthWords Nature Shop (Metroparks) |
| Lakewood | Nature's Bin Kidron Lehman's World Crafts |
| Massillon | Blue Heron |
| Mayfield | EarthWords Nature Shop (Metroparks) |
| N. Olmsted | EarthWords Nature Shop (Metroparks) |
| Richmond Heights | Zagara's Marketplace |
| Rocky River | Heartbeats Ten Thousand Villages |
| Solon | Mustard Seed Market |
| Stow | Rico Latte |
| Tallmadge | Seven Grains |
| Wooster | Common Grounds Westwood Market |
| Youngstown | Good Food Co-op |
And your local Acme, Buehler's, Kroger, and Heinen's.
- Fair Trade logo courtesy of TransFair USA
- Equal Exchange Fair Trade Chain graphic from Equal Exchange
- Coffee bean graphic derived from a photo by aigarius, at
http://www.morguefile.com/archive/?display=101160