I read an interesting story today about the pricing of ethical products and consumers' willingness to pay for these - or to penalise companies without ethical products. The story comes from the Wall Street Journal and shows that consumers are not only willing to pay premiums for ethical products - they heavily discount what they are willing to pay for non ethical products.
Good news for organic cotton among others!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121018735490274425.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today
http://seafood.typepad.com/the_winding_glass/2008/05/consumer-resear.html

Today, we also heard of a welcome reversal in the news in India - that farmers who have converted to organic cotton no longer report suicides. This is a marked contrast to the endless reports of farmer suicides in conventional cotton

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Layout/Includes/TOI/Artwin.asp?From=Archive&Skin=ET&BaseHref=ETA/2008/05/14&EntityId=Ar00203&ViewMode=HTML&AppName=1

Meanwhile, in Wales organic farmers gain similar returns to conventional farmers.

http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=18462