Coffee man to visit Third World growers

PAUL POST, The Saratogian
01/05/2007

WILTON -- Brian Crouth loves coffee, but he's also concerned about the people who grow it, which explains why he's headed to Nicaragua today.


The Wilton resident is national demonstration coordinator for Equal Exchange, a Boston-based Fair Trade company that puts a high priority on the welfare of Third World coffee growers.

The firm's $24 million annual sales represent a tiny fraction of the multi-billion dollar global coffee industry, but Crouth believes that both he and his company are making a difference.

'We've proved that doing an alternative business model, we can still be sustainable and profitable,' he said. 'We'd love the major coffee companies to follow our example.'

Typical Central and South American growers earn less than $1,000 per year, while Americans pay upwards of $2-per-cup or more at many trendy coffee shops. Middlemen, wholesalers and retailers quite often reap the profit, while farmers who perform the backbreaking labor lead subsistence-level lives.


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