Sandy

Fair Trade Month Quiz:

Question 2: In what year did Green Mountain Coffee sign an agreement with TransFair USA to purchase and promote Fair Trade Certified coffee?

Answer: 2000

Haven’t answered our Fair Trade Quiz question of the day, yet?  Well, why not?  The answer’s right there!  If that isn’t enough for you, the first 100 participants* get a sample of Green Mountain Coffee’s Fair Trade Certified™ Organic House Blend and all answers get entered to the grand prize drawing of 12-months of Green Mountain Coffee Fair Trade Certified™ Coffees.  Go here to enter: http://www.eatdrinkandbefair.com/quiz.php. 

*Sorry, employees and their immediate family members of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. are not eligible. But keep an eye out for our internal Fair Trade quiz. 

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Green Mountain Coffee has always believed that our highest quality coffees come from coffee communities with a healthy quality of life.  

In our early years, we began to promote coffees from farms and cooperatives that demonstrated a respect for the environment and for coffee producers and their families, We wanted to find a way to communicate these benefits on store shelves and other venues. 

 In 2000, we signed the Fair Trade licensing agreement with TransFair USA.  We committed to grow our Fair Trade line of coffees, with the goal of bringing Fair Trade to mainstream consumers.  At the time, Fair Trade coffee was distributed primarily to natural food cooperatives and health food stores, and was not available in supermarkets, offices and convenience stores.  Our goal the first year was to purchase and sell 300,000 lbs. of Fair Trade Certified coffee.  We sold over 600,000. 

 Since that time, Fair Trade organic coffee has been one of the fastest-growing segments of our business.  In 2002, we began sourcing and roasting Fair Trade Certified organic coffees for Newman’s Own Organics. 

Today we have over 40 Fair Trade and organic certified offerings.  In FY08, sales of Fair Trade Certified™ coffees represented 28% of our overall company sales.  Over the years, our efforts to "mainstream" Fair Trade have paid off.  Fair Trade coffees are now available far beyond natural food sections of stores to mainstream supermarkets, offices, convenience stores, and food service locations.

For Green Mountain Coffee, Fair Trade has been a "win-win-win" - a win for coffee farming families, a win for our company, and a win for our customers.  By helping coffee producers achieve economic security and diversification, we are also strengthening coffee communities and offering better quality coffee to our customers – and growing our businesses in the process.

- Sandy