Found this really interesting mp3 download from the BBC world service about coffee production.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/6609141.stm

Not so sure about the validity of some of the figures it throws out, and it’s uses some very simplistic calculations for its arguments but the point I guess is the same. I do like the chance for Starbucks to stand up for them selves. As I’ve said in the past there are green buyers that do a far worse job of looking after farmers than them.  They’re not blameless but get used as easy target by the press as they are so visible and people can easily relate to them.

The program has a really quite balanced approach to the whole argument rarely seen, but I shed no tears for the chain owners pleading poverty towards the end, kind of like saying I cant afford that Ivory back scratcher, I must be poor.