Starbucks defends business with poor farmers

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Starbucks (SBUX.O: Quote, Profile, Research), the icon of U.S. coffee culture, strongly defended on Sunday its business practices with poor coffee farmers around the world after it was accused of blocking the U.S. trademark application of coffee growers from Ethiopia.

Starbucks said in a full page ad published Sunday in the New York Times that it has worked to strengthen infrastructure of coffee farms in many parts of the world.

"We do these things -- in Ethiopia, in Guatemala, in Indonesia, and other coffee growing communities around the globe -- not just because it's the right way to work but because it's the smart way to work," the ad said.

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