A 31-year-old coffee farmer from Neuva Segovia, Nicaragua will speak on "What's in Your Coffee?" at 7 p.m. on Monday (Oct. 28) in Denison University's Slayter Auditorium. The talk by Alexa Marin Colindras will focus on how globalization has affected the coffee trade.

Coffee prices on the world market started a downward slide in 2000 that has caused escalating unemployment, landlessness and hunger among small-scale farmers and coffee pickers throughout the coffee-growing world, says Amy Ard, chaplain at Denison. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that producer prices had plummeted to an all-time low while retail prices were at an all-time high.

Colindras became a member of the Prodecoop farmer cooperative in 1994 and now serves as its treasurer and vice president. She demonstrates the concrete impacts of local organizing for global justice through promoting Fair Trade coffee. To improve conditions for small coffee farmers, the "Fair Trade Certified" label program has been organized. The program's aim is to ensure fair wages for coffee workers, cooperative work places, the removal of exploitative middlemen, environmental sustainability and public accountability for people throughout the developing world.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

For press inquiries:

Name

Barbara Stambaugh

Position Title

Director, Media Relations

Primary Email

stambaughb@denison.edu

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(740) 587-8575