The current world prices for coffee—set in New York and London—have fallen to their lowest ever level in real terms. As I write these lines, middlemen are paying peasants in Mexico around 44 cents for a kilogram of coffee that will cost North American or European consumers at least $8 and sometimes as much as $30. Ironically, at a time that growers are in dire straits, big coffee companies are announcing record profits.
—Laure Waridel, Coffee With Pleasure: Just Java and World Trade (2001, Black Rose Books)
For more background information about the coffee crisis and how it’s reshaping South America, TreeHugger recommends watching Birdsong & Coffee: A Wake Up Call, which takes a look at the situation from humanitarian, economic, and environmental perspectives.
From treehuggers.com