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Article: Fair Trade coffee excludes larger growers despite their good records.(The Seattle Times)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- September 19, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. 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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MATAGALPA, Nicaragua _ The 200 workers at Eddy and Mausi Kuhl's coffee farm are paid living wages and have homes with electricity, running water and concrete floors. They help make decisions about the operation of the 560-acre farm, and their 400 dependents receive benefits, including an on-site school and health clinic.
To their neighbors, many living in shacks pieced together from scrap wood and mud, those conditions probably sound like a good deal. Yet for all the benefits the Kuhls provide their workers, they cannot sell their coffee with the Fair Trade label because their farm is too big.
The size limit is one drawback to Fair Trade, which ...