It takes a lot of expertise to produce the high-quality beans that end up as your favourite cup of coffee. 

But the life of the smallholder coffee farmer behind your morning brew is far from easy.

Fairtrade works with farming co-operatives, businesses and governments to make trade fairer.

Together with Fairtrade farmers and workers we have a vision: a world in which trade is based on fairness so that producers earn secure and sustainable livelihoods.

When you choose Fairtrade coffee, not only can farmers build a better quality of life for their families and communities, they can invest in growing better quality beans too.

Fairtrade coffee farmers invest at least 25 percent of their Fairtrade premium in improving productivity and quality.

Choose Fairtrade coffee and you’re also supporting farmers to fight the challenges they may face. These include the effects of a changing climate, low and unpredictable incomes and in some coffee-growing communities, there may not be enough food available for three to four months a year.

Being part of Fairtrade has meant better knowledge about protecting the local environment and the chance to plant other crops and buy livestock to put more food on the table.

Around 125 million people worldwide depend on coffee for their livelihoods. Coffee is the most valuable and widely traded tropical agricultural product and 25 million smallholder farmers produce 80% of the world’s coffee. But many of them fail to earn a reliable living from coffee.

Source: FairTrade