page_title: Economics of coffee
section_title: Classification
hierarchical_section_title: Economics of coffee / Classification
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph by Dirk van der Made (User:DirkvdM - for more photos see user:DirkvdM/Photographs). Coffee plantation with shade trees in Orosí, Costa Rica, 1 February, 2004. Coffee in Orosí is grown in the shade during parts of the growing season, which is supposed to improve quality. The red trees in the background provide shade. The predominant shade tree here is poró (Erythrina poeppigiana); those in the foreground have been pruned to allow full exposure to the sun.
context_page_description: Coffee is a popular beverage and an important commodity. Tens of millions of small producers in developing countries make their living growing coffee. Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world every day. Over 90 percent of coffee production takes place in developing countries - mostly South America, while consumption happens mainly in the industrialized economies. There are 25 million small producers who rely on coffee for a living worldwide. In Brazil, where almost a third of the world's coffee is produced, over five million people are employed in the cultivation and harvesting of over three billion coffee plants; it is a more labour-intensive culture than alternative cultures of the same regions, such as sugar cane or cattle, as its cultivation is not automated, requiring frequent human attention.
  Coffee is a major export commodity and was the top agricultural export for 12 countries in 2004; the world's seventh-largest legal agricultural export, by value, in 2005; and "the second most valuable commodity exported by developing countries," from 1970 to circa 2000, which is frequently misstated—see coffee commodity market.
context_section_description: A number of classifications are used to label coffee produced under certain environmental or labor standards. For instance, "Bird-Friendly" or "shade-grown coffee" is said to be produced in regions where natural shade (canopy trees) is used to shelter coffee plants during parts of the growing season.
  Fair trade coffee is produced by small coffee producers who belong to cooperatives; guaranteeing for these cooperatives a minimum price, though with historically low prices, current fair-trade minimums are lower than the market price of only a few years ago. Fairtrade America is the primary organization currently overseeing Fair Trade coffee practices in the United States, while the Fairtrade Foundation does so in the United Kingdom.
caption: Shade trees in Orosí in Costa Rica. In the background (red) shade trees and in the foreground pruned trees for different periods in the growth cycle.
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