Faith organizations throw weight behind 'fair trade' coffee movement

By In-Sung Yoo, USA TODAY

A Catholic charitable organization has become the latest outfit to join religious groups backing the "fair-trade coffee" movement, an effort to help coffee farmers worldwide who are hurt by falling prices.

Sharp price drops in the past three years have created a crisis for 25 million families that grow coffee in 50 developing countries, experts say. Some U.S. corporations, including Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Procter & Gamble, have responded by agreeing to sell brands of fair-trade coffee, which helps ensure that the coffee growers make a decent living.

Now, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has announced an initiative aimed at boosting sales of fair-trade coffee among the nation's 65 million Catholics. The CRS Coffee Project partners with the Interfaith Coffee Program of Equal Exchange Inc., a fair-trade company based in Canton, Mass. The program includes organizations from the Lutheran, Presbyterian and Methodist communities. It encourages the 19,000 Catholic parishes in the USA to endorse and sell fair-trade coffee. Plans for the project also include educating parishioners on the plight of coffee farmers.

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