Starbucks Seeks More Socially Responsible Coffee

By Nichola Groom

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Starbucks Corp. has launched an aggressive plan to ensure coffee sold in its stores comes from environmentally friendly farms paying workers a fair wage, Chief Executive Orin Smith said in an interview.

By 2007, Starbucks expects that 60 percent of its coffee will come from farmers following strict rules on everything from forestation to pesticides to labor practices. About 10 percent of Starbucks' coffee is bought from suppliers following such rules now.

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