GMCR to increase Fair Trade Certified purchases by 5 million pounds a year

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) announced on 20 March that its Nantucket Blend is now 100-percent Fair Trade Certified. The company said that this conversion will represent approximately 5 million pounds of Fair Trade Certified coffee for fiscal year 2013, and will deliver an estimated $1 million in Fair Trade social premiums to coffee farmers annually. In 2000, GMCR became one of the first roasters in the United States to offer Fair Trade Certified coffees. In 2012, the company was named the world's largest purchaser of Fair Trade Certified coffee by Fair Trade USA for the second year in a row. “Converting our Nantucket Blend now allows us to bring more Green Mountain Coffee fair trade varieties to a larger consumer base than ever before,” said Lindsey Bolger, Senior Director of Coffee for the Specialty Coffee business unit of GMCR, in a statement. “We’re proud to be able to maintain the taste and quality of one of our most popular coffees while significantly changing the impact its existence will have around the world.” The conversion of all Nantucket Blend coffee sold in bags, K-Cup and Vue packs to Fair Trade Certified was completed in January 2013.