After oil, coffee is the largest legally traded commodity in the world. By some estimates, 3,000 cups of coffee are drunk every second. Like any commodity, coffee prices fluctuate according to supply and demand. Today, world prices for coffee beans have fallen to their lowest-ever level in real terms. This crash has placed a tremendous burden on millions of farmers and laborers in many parts of the world. Currently, farmers make roughly 40 cents for every one-pound bag of coffee they produce. That’s around 4% of the retail price. When prices fall this low, farmers quickly need to increase their income in order to provide for their families. To accomplish this, a farmer is faced with few options. He can attempt to increase production through the use of chemicals, clear more land for coffee production, switch to more environmentally-harmful crops or convert his land to pasture (cutting down the forest in the process), or leave the community to join the masses who are deserting their homelands and migrating to nearby urban areas.

There is an alternative. The concept of fairly-traded goods is a simple one; give the farmers a fair price for the crops they grow. This is the principle behind fair trade coffee. Because Emy J's coffee is Fair Trade Certified, coffee farmers are guaranteed a fair price for their beans -- at least $1.41 for every pound of certified organic coffee they sell. By returning a livable wage to farmers that use sustainable, wildlife-friendly growing practices, your purchase of Emy J's coffee contributes to habitat conservation and truly sustainable development.