Eastern’s Fair Trade Coalition will hold a panel discussion on the topic of a coffee farmer’s life Tuesday.

The discussion will begin at 7 p.m. in the Roberson Auditorium in Lumpkin Hall.

A short video on the effects fair trade standards have had on a coffee farmer’s life will be shown with a question and answer session following. The audience will also hear facts such as how coffee is a $50 billion a year industry, the farmer receive a meager 16 percent of the profits.

Some topics that will be revealed at the discussion are the means of production including the difference with organically grown coffee, environmental effects such as influences on animal and plant life, prices farmers receive for coffee versus through fair trade, and the struggles farmers endure with the current wages, the press release said.

Chris Lempa, a senior history major and original member the Fair Trade Coalition, said, “We would like to raise awareness of living and working conditions around the world. Not everyone lives like we do here in the United States, and that’s important for people to realize.”

Four members of the Eastern community are scheduled to appear and discuss different aspects of fair trade. Robert Bartford, a retired Eastern professor, David Carwell, professor of political science whose area of expertise is in South America, where most coffee is grown, Belayet Kahn, professor of geography, who grew up in Bangladesh, where he has seen the effects of sweat shops and Roy Lanham, the director of the Newman Center and advisor of the humanitarian group, will speak.

Eastern’s Fair Trade Coalition was established earlier this year.

Jennifer Price, a junior art major and member of the coalition, said she is looking to better humanity by being involved with Fair Trade clubs.

“It sounded like a good way to help out and it’s a great humanitarian and environmentalist thing to do,” she said.

The discussion will give members and the public the opportunity to voice their opinions on the matter.

Admission to the discussion is free and open to the public.