Significant labour rights violations were uncovered at the Pedreira farm in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The farm is owned by the family of Cooxupé president Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo. Cooxupé is the world's largest coffee cooperative, and supplies major international brands like Starbucks and Nespresso. Workers at the Pedreira farm had up to 30% of their wages illegally deducted to pay for essential equipment, like portable coffee harvesting machines, which should legally have been provided by the employer free of charge. In 2021, an inspection revealed that 19 workers, who had migrated from the impoverished Jequitinhonha Valley, were affected by these illegal deductions. This violation occurred despite Cooxupé's substantial profits, which nearly doubled to $61 million in 2020 on revenues of $1 billion. The Melo family subsequently agreed to return the deducted wages and pay each worker 2,000 reais ($370) as compensation for moral damages. This incident is part of a broader issue of labour exploitation in Brazil's coffee industry. In 2020, 140 workers were rescued from slave-like conditions on coffee plantations in Minas Gerais.