2006年VOA标准英语-Coffee Industry Tries Fair Trade Reforms

By George Dwyer
Washington, DC
22 March 2006
 
watch Fair Trade Coffee report

Coffee plant  
  
Small farmers make up three-fifths of the world's 25 million coffee producers, but typically they receive the smallest portion of the industry's profits. That is slowly beginning to change as a profit distribution scheme known as "Fair Trade" is finding wider acceptance across the industry. Melinda Smith narrates¹.

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Coffee is the world's second-most traded commodity, generating a greater level of income than any other unfinished product except petroleum². But the distribution of that income has become the focus of increasing concern in recent years.
 
  
  
"Traditionally coffee has had positive economic benefits primarily at the consuming side, and the producing side has often been left behind," says Rick Rhinehart, head of operations at the Groundwork Coffee Company in Los Angeles. They import from growers around the world, and use a policy called Fair Trade to try to end income disparities, especially for coffee growers. 

Rick Rhinehart  
  
"Our goal is to create a much more equitable³ distribution so that the producing communities feel the same economic benefit as the consuming community and see the same kinds of impacts on quality of life that we see on the consuming side," he says.

Those benefits are perhaps most apparent at large coffee distributors such as Starbucks Coffee of Seattle, Washington, one of America's 500 largest corporations. Starbucks is a global company with plans to eventually operate some 25,000 outlets⁵ around the world. But, says its president, Orin Smith, his firm is also committed to helping⁶ coffee growers get a better deal.

Orin Smith  
  
"We have made a pact⁴ with our customers that we will provide them with very high quality coffee but we will charge a very high price. This is important for us but it is equally important for the farmers, because that high price enables us to pay the farmers the highest price for their coffees of any buyer in the world."

Starbucks says it channels those higher prices through "preferred providers" - suppliers who can demonstrate that the small farmers who produce the crop do indeed receive above market payments as intended. But Fair Trade campaigners, like Mario Monroy of Mexico, question whether the system is working, as it should.
 
 
Starbucks employees
  
"It (Starbucks) doesn't actually know who the money is going to,” he says. “And if you want to pay a fair price, it has to also mean that you are concerned about who the money goes to and making sure the money goes straight to the coffee-growers."

Mexico, where Mr. Monroy campaigns, is the world's fifth-largest coffee producer. But the same concerns that farmers have there are shared in premium⁷ coffee growing nations from Guatemala to Ethiopia. Seeing that they receive the payments they deserve often comes down to personal relationships.

Mario Monroy   
  
"And we try and work directly with the farmers, or the farm communities, often with co-ops, and to pay a premium for things like organically produced coffee,” says Rick Rhinehart. “So our model looks at identifying those factors that contribute to sustainable high prices. And the number one factor of course is quality."

That focus on quality also spills over to promoting better, more sustainable environmental practices among small farmers. 

1 narrates   

v.故事( narrate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• It narrates the unconstitutional acts of James II. 它历数了詹姆斯二世的违法行为。 来自辞典例句
• Chapter three narrates the economy activity which Jew return the Occident. 第三章讲述了犹太人重返西欧后的经济活动。 来自互联网

2 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

3 equitable   

adj.公平的；公正的

参考例句：

• This is an equitable solution to the dispute. 这是对该项争议的公正解决。
• Paying a person what he has earned is equitable. 酬其应得,乃公平之事。

4 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

5 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。