Equal Exchange, a "fair trade" coffee company, announced a marketing victory Thursday: All 140 Albertsons Supermarkets in Washington and Oregon have now begun to stock four of Equal Exchange's coffees. These will be the first fair trade certified products carried by Albertsons, the nation's third-largest supermarket retailer.

According to Equal Exchange, fair trade certification guarantees consumers that the coffee they purchase comes from democratically organized cooperatives of small farmers that were paid a just price for their crop. The organization said millions of other coffee farming families have struggled during the last two years as world coffee prices have reached 100-year lows.

Under fair trade, farmer cooperatives are paid at least $1.26 per pound of coffee, and $1.41 for organic coffee. In contrast, the current world market price is 65 cents per pound, and has dropped as low as 42 cents in the last year. International relief and development agencies have cited this collapse of coffee prices as the cause of widespread hunger, unemployment and the loss of farms in coffee-growing regions worldwide.

The decision to add fair trade coffees in general, and Equal Exchange coffees in particular, was prompted by letters sent to Albertsons during the retailer's recent "Dear Albertsons" marketing campaign, which invited shoppers to write in with product requests.

"This announcement marks a significant advancement for fair trade in the Northwest. In the past the Pacific Northwest has been America's coffee trendsetter, so this suggests that fair trade will continue to grow for years to come," said Rink Dickinson, founder and co-executive director of Equal Exchange.