Does Fair Trade Coffee Lift Growers Out of Poverty or Simply Ease Our Guilty Conscience?
Is the Fair Trade movement just a marketing scheme or does it truly provide a living wage for coffee growers?

How many times a day do you consume a food produced by a subsistence farmer on the other side of the world? Whether it’s chocolate, coffee, tea, sugar or bananas, most Americans regularly enjoy inexpensive tropical foods, but far fewer actually think about the effects on the people or the environment where those products are grown. The Fair Trade movement represents one attempt to change this by reminding consumers that their lifestyles rely on faraway farmers and laborers and offering them an opportunity to ensure their purchases come from farmers paid a fair price.