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Article: COFFEE WITH A PURPOSE FAIR TRADE OFFICE OPENS.(LOCAL/STATE)
- Article from:
- The Capital Times
- Article date:
- March 15, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Capital Newspapers. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Samara Kalk The Capital Times
Five years ago few people knew beans about the "fair trade" movement and even less about the Equal Exchange coffee cooperative.
Now, maybe 3 percent to 4 percent of the U.S. population does, said Rink Dickinson, a founder of the 16-year-old gourmet coffee company Equal Exchange.
That may seem like nothing, but it is meaningful to supporters of Equal Exchange, a worker-owned company that eliminates the middleman by buying coffee directly from small farmers in Mexico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and other nations.
The company promotes "fair trade" by buying its coffee at prices well above the market rate ...