In an increasingly global economy, where the profit margins of huge multinational coffee companies continue to rise, prices paid for coffee harvests have reached an all-time low, forcing farmers in some of the world's poorest countries to abandon their once bountiful fields.

Among the hardest hit by the devastating effects of this crisis is Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee. Tadesse Meskela is one man on a mission to bring a fair-trade market to the more than 70,000 struggling farmers whom he represents. As these hard-working people strive to keep the rich cultural heritage of their country intact by continuing to harvest some of the highest quality coffee beans available, Tadesse travels the world in an attempt to find a fair price for the fruits of their labor.

This seemingly Sisyphean endeavor takes him on an international journey to some of the biggest coffee marketplaces in the world, where he discovers that there are no easy solutions for the trade issues facing his impoverished countrymen.

Black Gold is a moving and eye-opening look into the 80-billion-dollar global coffee industry, where the spoils of overpriced lattes and cappuccinos are sparsely shared with the farmers who make it all possible.

- Adam Montgomery, Sundance Film Festival, 2006

TADESSE MESKELA, General Manager, Oromo Coffee Farmers Co-operative Union, Ethiopia

After a two month co-operative training placement in Japan, in the late 1990's Tadesse Meskela returned to Ethiopia and was instrumental in establishing the Oromia Co-operative Union. The union has grown over the last few years and now involves 74 co-operatives made up of over 70,000 coffee growers.

He is determined to return more money back to the coffee farmers, by bypassing the international commodities exchange. Tadesse's determination and energy is remarkable. He balances bringing up a family, running the union and flying around the world to meet with new buyers.

It was an inspiring experience spending time with Tadesse in London, Ethiopia and the USA. He has an absolutely unstoppable energy and drive. His story is the story of an attempt to make globalization work for the producers behind some of the world's most valuable products. He has successfully found a way around the structures that block farmers being paid a fair price. However, as he says himself in the film, this is not just an issue that affects coffee but all the products coming from the poorest countries in the South.