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Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers
Partnering With Roasters And Value-Driven Coffee Companies To Create Life-Changing Farmer Impact
Project Contact: Email: Phone: Project URL:
Liam Brody projects@sustainableharvest.com (503) 235-1119 sustainableharvest.com
Project Name: Partnering With Roasters And Value-Driven Coffee Companies To Create Life-Changing Farmer Impact Project Location Additional Information: Coffee-producing countries across the globe. Project Impact: Collaborative projects implemented by Sustainable Harvest and our partners positively impact thousands of smallholder farmers each year.
Project Description Sustainable Harvest sources 100% of its coffee using a pioneering model we call Relationship Coffee. For us, transparency and traceability are a prerequisite for long-term, mutually beneficial relationships between roasters and producers. Beyond convening these business relationships, we collaborate with roasters, producers, and NGOs on special projects that address deeper needs farmers have identified. Recent collaborations have included: Improving drying in Peru. Coloradobased Ozo Coffee uses proceeds from the sale of its coffee from Peru cooperative Aprocassi to fund the construction of solar dryers at the cooperative. Fifteen solar dryers are expected to be completed this summer, which will yield higherquality coffee, decrease environmental pollution, and lower the cooperative’s cost of production. Honoring culture in Colombia. San Diego’s Cafe Moto funds a music program for the community of its partner cooperative Coagronevada in Colombia with proceeds from sales of their coffee. The program includes the purchase of musical instruments and music classes, creating opportunities for the community’s young people to explore the arts and honor the community’s heritage. Providing access to quality-control tools. Sustainable Harvest and Strauss Coffee created a quality-focused incentive program with the women’s group of Colombia’s Coocentral cooperative. 32 Women in the program can earn qualitycontrol assets such as drying tables and plastic fermentation tanks.
Oakland-based roaster Mr. Espresso also works with Coocentral’s womens group, providing members with portable cupping kits with which they roast and taste their coffee, giving them a better understanding of their product and its value. Benefits These projects benefit stakeholders throughout the value chain. For producers, partnering with roasters through the Relationship Coffee Model leads to critical investments in quality of life, farm productivity, gender equality, cultural preservation, and cup quality. “Our cooperative will benefit so much from the solar dryers,” says Aprocassi’s Hans Troyes about their collaboration with Ozo. “Our members are happy because the dryers are made of iron, so they should be an eternal tool.” Projects can also help retain the next generation, inspiring them to see a brighter future at home in their local communities. At Coagronevada, executive director Sandra Palacios says of the musical instruments: “Young people are the future of our society, and this program preserves our ancestors’ customs by encouraging the youth to participate in arts and culture.” For the Coocentral women farmers involved in the quality-improvement project, roasters and cupping kits make a big impact. Nelcy Vargas, who earned a roaster through the program, said, “Now I will be able to taste the coffee I grew; I know my quality of life is going to get better.”
July 2018
For roasters, using proceeds from coffee sales for a project is a way to make a major impact for a producer partner. “For us, an important element of a business relationship is making investments in the cooperative. If we can use 5 or 10 cents from each pound to make a difference in their communities, it’s an easy decision,” said Torrey Lee of Cafe Moto. Readers can help by Making great coffee is a team sport, and we’re always looking for new collaborators. The great thing about specialty coffee is that it’s an eclectic community of passionate folks looking for ways to make a difference. Blaire Baker at Ozo said she was glad to make an extra contribution to support a producer partner because “we wanted to maintain our relationship while also improving the quality of their coffee.” Mr. Espresso invests in origin projects with Coocentral’s women’s group and other producer groups to deepen its relationships with its producer partners. “It’s a way that we can give something back to them for the great product they give to us,” said Francesca Morabito of Mr. Espresso. Joe Behm, owner of Behmor—which has provided roasters to Coocentral’s women group—explained the impact he’s seen the roasters have at origin. “It creates a domino effect: Farmers can evaluate their coffee, which leads to quality improvement, which leads to more money they can spend on healthcare, clothes, and their communities. It’s humbling that we can affect change in people’s lives the way that this does.” Contact us at projects@sustainableharvest. com to discuss how your small investments can make a huge impact!