Tag Archives: Fair Trade

Fair Trade: Beyond the Purchase

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Purchase fair trade jewelry at Shop@Heifer. Photo by Chelsey McNiel, Communications Intern, Heifer Headquarters

Yesterday, justice lovers worldwide celebrated World Fair Trade Day - an initiative of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO) which advocates for farmers and artisans to get fair market prices.

According to WFTO, “a third of the world’s population lives on less than two dollars a day.” But will it really make a difference which products fill our shopping carts?

Heifer International thinks so. When you purchase certified fair trade items, like coffee, bananas and apparel, you can improve the quality of life for developing communities and establish strong businesses.

Supporting organizations like Heifer takes your impact beyond the practice of purchasing fair trade certified essentials. Heifer educates families and communities so they not only recieve a fair price at the market, but also receive tools and training to ensure a shift toward sustainable living.

Shop@Heifer supports Heifer’s mission of ending hunger and poverty and caring for the Earth with earth- and artisan-friendly goods.

Learn how you can go beyond the purchase

 

Susan Sarandon Writes About the Thin Months

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The Thin Months

Photo by Russell Powell, courtesy of Heifer International.

Longtime Heifer International supporter Susan Sarandon wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal this past Sunday. Having narrated the 2011 documentary “After the Harvest: Fighting Hunger in the Coffeelands” (watch clip on our YouTube channel), Sarandon remains interested in the wellbeing of coffee farmers and the connection between Heifer and fair-trade coffee vendor, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Read the full text of Sarandon’s article here.

Watch a slideshow of photos from our project in Chiapas, Mexico, in partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters

Read previous posts on the Thin Months.

Do you have a favorite fair-trade certified coffee? Share it with us in the comments section below.

Sustainable Sourcing and Fair Trade for All

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Earlier today, I was at the William J. Clinton Foundation in New York attending a conversation on Sustainable Sourcing and Fair Trade for All. The event brings together a small group of prominent leaders who, together, are transforming supply chains around the world. Heifer International CEO Pierre Ferrari was invited to the event on behalf of Skoll Foundation, Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, Avina Foundation and Fair Trade USA. Unfortunately, Pierre was unable to attend, but I was pleased to accept on behalf of Heifer.

Bill Clinton and Paul Rice

President Bill Clinton (right) and Fair Trade USA President and CEO Paul Rice (left) at the William J. Clinton Foundation in New York on Dec. 11, 2012.

The Fair Trade concept can be traced to cooperation in the 60s, 70s and 80s that was formed out of a shared sense of justice and solidarity for coffee producers in Latin America. The result of this solidarity led (and still leads) to tangible improvements in the income, health and education of coffee growers. From there, simple technologies and support from various organizations transformed producers into processors and later into exporters. Income grew for coffee farmers, and so did the organizations supporting them. As momentum for Fair Trade increased, additional crops or goods were included, such as bananas, cacao, handicrafts and others.

Years later, what began as an expression of solidarity is now generating significant revenue and demanding more and more professional support for the organizations involved. That means the Fair Trade conversation has changed, although it retains its spirit.

At the William J. Clinton Foundation today, we talked about “sustainable sourcing,” which takes environmental and social responsibility into account when procuring resources like coffee, and the barriers that keep sustainability from full integration into supply chains. Additionally, we discussed Fair Trade USA’s Fair Trade for All vision, which sets out to double “the impact of Fair Trade for farmers” in the next decade and “improv(e) lives throughout the global coffee supply chain.” Fair Trade USA’s vision is centered on: 1) strengthening farming communities by investing in cooperatives and partnering with others to provide support services, with a focus on quality and business capacity, 2) including more farmers, farm workers and communities in the benefits of Fair Trade, and 3) engaging consumers to increase market demand for Fair Trade Certified products and grow sales and impact.

According to Paul Rice, president and CEO of Fair Trade USA, these elements provide a “new model for capitalism that aligns the interest of farmers, consumers and the Earth where everybody wins. The journey begins with the farmer/producer and brings the heart back into business and awakens the mind of consumers.”

As you might expect, today’s conversation was engaging and motivating. Tune in later this week to read my perspective on the event and how Heifer International fits into the picture.

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Abastecimiento sostenible y Comercio Justo para todos

Hoy más temprano, estaba en la Fundación de William J. Clinton en Nueva York, asistiendo a una charla sobre Abastecimiento Sostenible y Comercio Justo para Todos. El evento juntó a un pequeño grupo de líderes prominentes que juntos, están transformando las cadenas de suministros alrededor del mundo. El Presidente Ejecutivo de Heifer International, Pierre Ferrari, fue invitado al evento de parte de la Skoll Foundation, Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, Avina Foundation y Fair Trade USA. Desafortunadamente, Pierre no pudo asistir, pero yo estaba encantado de aceptar de parte de Heifer.

El concepto de Comercio Justo se remonta a la cooperación en los años 60, 70 y 80, el cual se formó desde el sentido compartido de justicia y solidaridad por los productores de café de América Latina. El resultado de esta solidaridad condujo (y todavía conduce) a mejoras tangibles en el ingreso, salud y educación de los cultivadores de café. Desde ahí, tecnologías simples y apoyo de varias organizaciones transformaron a los productores en procesadores y después en exportadores. El ingreso creció para los agricultores de café, como también las organizaciones que los apoyaban. Mientras que el ímpetu del Comercio Justo aumentaba, se incluyeron cosechas y bienes adicionales, como las bananas, el cacao, artesanías y otros.

Años después, lo que comenzó como una expresión de solidaridad, ahora genera beneficios significantes y exige más y más apoyo profesional de las organizaciones involucradas. Esto significa que el discurso del Comercio Justo ha cambiado, aunque mantiene su espíritu.

En la Fundación de William J. Clinton hoy en día hablamos de “abastecimiento sostenible”, que toma en cuenta la responsabilidad medioambiental y social  en la búsqueda de recursos como el café, y las barreras que evitan que la sostenibilidad se integre por completo en las cadenas de suministros. Además, discutimos la visión del Comercio Justo para Todos de Fair Trade USA, que propone doblar “el impacto del Comercio Justo para los agricultores” en la siguiente década y “mejorar vidas a través de la cadena global de suministro del café.” La visión de Fair Trade USA se centra en: 1) fortalecer las comunidades agricultoras invirtiendo en cooperativas y asociaciones con otros, para proveer servicios de apoyo, con un enfoque en la calidad y en la capacidad de negocios; 2) incluir más agricultores, trabajadores agrícolas y comunidades en los beneficios del Comercio Justo y 3) comprometer a los consumidores a aumentar la demanda en el mercado de Productos de Comercio Justo Certificados y aumentar las ventas e impacto.

De acuerdo a Paul Rice, Presidente Ejecutivo de Fair Trade USA, estos elementos proporcionan un “nuevo modelo para el capitalismo que reune los intereses de los agricultores, los consumidores y la Tierra, donde todo el mundo gana. El trayecto comienza en el agricultor/productor y trae el corazón de vuelta al negocio y despierta la mente de los consumidores.”

Como seguramente espera, la conversación de hoy fue comprometedora y motivadora. Sintonízate esta semana para leer mi perspectiva sobre el evento y cómo Heifer International encaja en la imagen.

Around the Web: Markets, Certificates, How to Give to a Giver

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Photo credit: kait8.com

Cornerstone United Methodist Church held its annual Glorious Giving Market November 10, 2012, benefiting six organizations including Heifer International. “It’s a glorious thing that God would be proud of because it helps really needy people,” said Patricia Harlan, Leader of Mission Team.

The Juniper Moon Farm has a recent blog post listing great children’s books that feature knitting, yarn or sheep, great holiday gifts. If you find a book you want to buy, and click on the link through the blog, the blog will donate it’s percentage to Heifer International.

Photo credit: missminimalist.com

I thought this was a unique way to let others know you’d be happy with an alternative gift this holiday (such as the kind Heifer International offers). Check out the One Less Gift certificate.

She Knows Shopping tells us How to Give to a Giver: “Skip the commercial items this year, and give your advocate friend a gift that supports a cause you know will be meaningful.” Buying a chicken or cow through Heifer International is among the great ideas listed.

Students at Los Alamos Middle School in New Mexico are participating in Heifer International’s Read to Feed‚ a reading incentive program that allows children to help find solutions to global problems like hunger and poverty. Students will record books they read through Dec. 14, and will ask for pledges for each book read.

Tina Forsyth is having a virtual launch for her new book to help entrepreneurs improve their business process and enjoy some time off. Heifer International will benefit from 25 percent of the sales from the launch.

Saint John’s Presbyterian Church in Houston is having a Living Gift Market on December 2, and will feature many booths selling items that will benefit the community and the world, including Heifer International.

In Kendal Park, New Jersey, an alternative gift market is being held November 18, offering African, Asian and Latin American handicrafts, as well as alternative gift offerings from Heifer International.

Around the Web: More Creative Types Donate Profits to Heifer; Pumpkins, Teachers, and Fair Trade

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Every Sunday we highlight some of the people who are funding our work creatively or helping us spread the word of our mission online. If you spot Heifer International while you’re surfing the web or know of a fun or creative fundraising effort, please share it with us here in the comments.

Photo credit: Kara McGraw

Thanks to Mother Moment for the blog post Caring Causes: Heifer International, which featrues an introduction to Sarah the Goat, our online interactive giving experience for children.

Singer/songwriter Kara McGraw is donating profits from her song, “Miss Comfortable,” to Heifer International. Check out her music.

Sugar Valley Church of the Brethren youth group held a spaghetti and meatball dinner yesterday in Eastville, Pennsylvania, and accepted donations to benefit Heifer International.

Earth Diva’s Blog has a very interesting post on fair trade and how it “alleviates poverty, and becomes a powerful, transformational force of good in struggling communities.” In it she talks about Heifer International’s model and its similarities to fair trade.

Pumpkins for sale

Photo credit: connectionsnewspapers.com

If you are in Virginia and find yourself pumpkin shopping, consider the 19th Annual Pumpkin Sale at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, from 9 a.m.-8 p.m. daily Oct. 7-31. The sale benefits many of Alexandria’s charities and international charities including Heifer International and the Haiti Micah Project.

The Caldwell Retired Teachers Association in Saline County, Arkansas, are organizing a fundraiser for Heifer International as a memorial for Alice Glover, a former 2nd grade teacher at Caldwell Elementary School who died in May. The money collected will be presented on Nov. 20 at the school gym.

We’ve discovered another author who is giving proceeds from each book sale to Heifer. Read this blogger’s review of the book, Thorn, by Intisar Khanani.

Let’s Talk… Coffee: Drink (the Right Kind of) Coffee

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I grew up in Guatemala, a coffee-growing country, but I learned to drink coffee while writing my dissertation in Germany, far away from home. This is the paradox of living in the coffeelands sometimes. Quality coffee is enjoyed far away from its origins.

But this also means that coffee has long been a part of my life. How could it not be? When the coffee trade sneezes, Guatemala gets pneumonia. From the shade of coffee plants, I’ve watched as many things have changed in the industry and its history: distribution of land, labor conditions, fluctuations in the economy, etc.

A Heifer project participant poses with her coffee plants in western Guatemala.

Coffee is the second largest market in the world, after oil, so it is a big deal globally, as well. Demand for coffee is so great that its price is getting higher every year. Unfortunately, the amount of money that makes its way to coffee producers is declining every year.

The prices that reach coffee producers are so low that it allows them to survive, and that’s about it. Inputs for growing coffee are expensive, and small-holder coffee farmers aren’t getting a price representative of these inputs or the labor, value of the land, etc.

Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking at Specialty Coffee Association of America’s annual event, and after the presentation, a man asked if we should stop drinking coffee because coffee farming families are going hungry. I immediately grabbed the microphone and said, “NO… but demand the right kind of coffee.”

So what is the right kind of coffee?

Fair Trade is certainly part of the answer. The main idea with Fair Trade is, of course, ensuring that coffee farmers can earn a living wage. But it’s more than that. Fair Trade coffee is brought to your cup through a process that is socially just and ecologically sound. And through Fair Trade, farmers are empowered through strong, democratic organizations.

Fair Trade really is a great thing, but it’s not enough. Long-term, sustainable development is necessary to achieve food security, and that’s the part of the equation Heifer is trying to improve. Through our projects in the Americas, we are diversifying the production of coffee farmers so that they are not only earning income from coffee but also earning income from other sources and growing their own food.

Coffee is a path to community development, when the right process is followed and the right system is in place.  When it is cultivated organically, it improves soil fertility, increases biodiversity, promotes reforestation, creates a healthy environment for workers and produces a cup of coffee well worth drinking. When it is processed in an ecologically sound way, water streams are protected. And when coffee producers are brought together in an organized way, it empowers them and helps their work become economically viable. When you add food security to the mix, that’s the whole package. In coffeelands around the world, this is the perfect equation to ending hunger and poverty.

Happy World Fair Trade Day!

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Hablemos sobre… Café: Beber (el tipo correcto de) Café

Crecí en Guatemala, un país cultivador de café, pero aprendí a beber café mientras escribía mi disertación en Alemania, lejos de casa. Esto es a veces la paradoja de vivir en las tierras del café. La calidad del café se disfruta lejos de sus orígenes. Pero esto también significa que el café ha formado parte de mi vida mucho tiempo. ¿Cómo no podría serlo? Cuando el comercio del café estornuda, a Guatemala le da neumonía. Desde la sombra de las plantas de café, he visto como muchas cosas han cambiado en la industria y su historia: la distribución de la tierra, las condiciones laborales, fluctuaciones en la economía, etc.

El café representa el segundo mercado más grande en el mundo, después del petróleo, por lo que también es importante a nivel global. La demanda de café es tan grande que su precio se está incrementando cada año. Desafortunadamente, el monto de dinero que llega a los productores de café está disminuyendo cada año.

Los precios que llegan a los productores de café son tan bajos que les permiten sobrevivir, y solo eso. Los insumos para cultivar café son caros y los pequeños agrícolas de café no reciben un precio de acuerdo a estos insumos o su trabajo, valor de la tierra, etc. El mes pasado, tuve el placer de hablar en el evento anual de la Asociación de Cafés Especiales de América, y después de la presentación, un hombre preguntó si deberíamos parar de beber café porque las familias agricultoras de café están pasando hambre. Inmediatamente agarré el micrófono y dije, “NO… pero exija el tipo correcto de café.”

Entonces, ¿cuál es el tipo correcto de café?

El Comercio Justo es definitivamente parte de la respuesta. La idea principal del Comercio Junto es por supuesto, asegurar que los agricultores de café se ganen un sueldo base. Pero es más que eso. El café de Comercio Justo llega hasta su taza a través de un proceso que es socialmente justo y ecológicamente sensato. Y a través del Comercio Justo, se empodera a los agricultores mediante organizaciones fuertes y democráticas.

El Comercio Justo es realmente una buena cosa, pero no es suficiente. Es necesario el desarrollo sostenible a largo plazo para lograr seguridad alimentaria, y esa es la parte de la ecuación que Heifer está tratando mejorar. A través de nuestros proyectos en las Américas, estamos diversificando la producción de los agricultores de café, para que no sólo estén ganando un ingreso del café sino logrando ingresos de otros recursos y cultivando sus propios alimentos.

El café es el camino hacia el desarrollo comunitario, cuando el proceso correcto se sigue y el sistema correcto está en su lugar. Cuando se cultiva orgánicamente, mejora la fertilidad de la tierra, aumenta la biodiversidad, promueve la reforestación, crea un ambiente sano para los trabajadores y produce una taza de café que merece la pena beberse. Cuando se procesa de manera ecológica, los arroyos de agua se protegen. Y cuando los productores de café se reúnen de manera organizada, les empodera y les ayuda a que su trabajo se convierta económicamente viable. Cuando añades seguridad alimentaria a la mezcla, ese es el paquete completo. En las tierras del café alrededor del mundo esta es la ecuación perfecta para erradicar el hambre y la pobreza.

¡Feliz Día del Comercio Justo!

Purchasing Fair Trade to Support Families

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May 12th is World Fair Trade Day, and like many celebrated days, I think this is something we should consider every day. Last month we shared with you how to purchase coffee with a conscience, and I wrote about coffee. I mentioned that in my previous life I assumed purchasing fair trade was “enough” to help the farmers move from poverty to a sustainable life.

Fair trade is a wonderful practice – we purchase good, quality products, and the farmers receive a fair price for their product. But another aspect we want to make sure we consider is that we are improving the lives of the farmers. We want the farmers to produce, first for themselves and then to sell the surplus, and through this build their sustainable lives.

Fair trade supports helping farmers, and at Heifer we believe this is an important component of helping more people. But we also need to have an understanding of the big picture and support the full cycle of farmers improving their lives.  We want this practice to be beneficial both ways, for us and the farmers!

Photograph by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International

This is why it is important for Heifer to support organizations such as Fair Trade USA. It’s not just about purchasing fair trade products, but it is also about ensuring that we incorporate different elements while working with the farmers. Protecting the planet, supporting farmers as they build their business, educating and empowering all families members (especially the women!) and fighting poverty are all part of the solution.

As I have mentioned before, I am on the board of Ben and Jerry’s, and one of the plans we are implementing is incorporating fair trade products into our ice cream. I’m pleased to report that by 2013, the products Ben and Jerry’s uses for their ice cream will be 100% fair trade. I’m also excited to mention that in my travels last year to Ecuador we met with a fair trade banana cooperative that is working with Heifer and (coincidentally) provides Ben and Jerry’s with fair trade bananas. What a small world!

Photograph by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International

So yes, it is important to purchase fair trade products – but it’s also important to support organizations like Heifer that are working with farmers to ensure they have the essential tools needed to rise above the struggles of poverty.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’m off now to drink my Yerba Mate (organic, shade grown, reforestation oriented, fairly traded of course!) and contemplate on what more we can do to end hunger and poverty.

 

A Just Life for Honduran Coffee Farmers

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Heifer International Senior Grant Writer Catherine Scott recently spent time in Honduras visiting some of our projects. Below, Catherine shares with us a little about her visit.


“I wanted to come back to work with people in my own community” – Jonan Daniel, agricultural advisor.
Jonan Daniel.
Jonan Daniel is a young, enthusiastic, and highly trained agricultural advisor whose role is to visit 60 RAOS Coffee Cooperative member families per month. As part of the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters partnership aimed at “Improving the Sustainable Production and Food Systems of Small-Scale Organic Coffee Farming Families in Honduras,” Daniel visits these families to ensure they are meeting not only their own family food security needs, but also to ensure they are receiving the necessary training in organic coffee production to meet the RAOS coffee co-op standards.

Since 2002, Heifer has had a valued corporate partnership with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR). Most recently, GMCR has partnered with Heifer International to provide income diversification for small holder family farmers in the coffee production supply chain in Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Nicaragua. After the coffee harvest, farmers have a hard time making ends meet. This period, from April to September, is called the “thin months” – when it becomes necessary to find another source of income. This is where Heifer comes in. We are working with families who supply coffee to GMCR to help the farmers through the thin months. By providing livestock, seeds, training and equipment, the farmers are able to better sustain their families and produce an income throughout the year.

Harvested coffee beans.
GMCR works with the RAOS co-op in Honduras. RAOS’ vision is to produce healthy, ecologically sustainable food – but also to gain a “just life” for its members. They want to be able to share the fruits of their labor amongst member families and the wider community. Their work is conducted in harmony with nature, while working towards economic, social, physical, and spiritual health.

The co-op started with just 16 men and 4 women. Over the past few years, the co-op has grown to include 123 families (200 individuals); they receive 10-20 applications for membership per week! Accountability was also readily apparent, with an elected co-op board that includes a specific Gender Committee to ensure the inclusion of women.

Preparing the coffee for shipment.
Why does RAOS exist? Because its producers know that there can be strength in numbers. Without the co-op working to secure fair trade pricing, the coffee producers and ‘’cutters’’ (those who harvest the beans) are at the mercy of the buyers. An average 100 lb bag of beans fetches a price of $6/bag. A fair trade bag? That garners the producer $20/bag. In a country where many people exist on less than $2/day, getting fair trade prices makes a huge difference in a family’s income.

During the project site visit, several Heifer staff members tried their hand at harvesting the beans. Within a 30 minute period, we harvested a paltry sum. Many jokes ensued over how many Americans it takes to harvest a single coffee plant! Our host, and one of the original members of RAOS, teased us that he had a quota and if we didn’t meet it, we couldn’t leave the farm! In contrast to our untrained hands, a skilled cutter can harvest 250 lbs of coffee per day. It is back-breaking work.

RAOS co-op president with eggs from
his Heifer chickens.
When we asked Daniel why he had returned when so many young adults leave the rural areas, he replied simply that he grew up in this area harvesting coffee. Now, by working with Green Mountain Coffee Roaster and Heifer International he has the opportunity and the training to Pass on the Gift to members of his own community. Through this partnership, families in the RAOS co-op (and others in Honduras) have a better chance at moving beyond subsistence and creating strong economic futures for their children.

October is Fair Trade Month: Take Action Every Day

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Now that the month is nearly over, I’ve just become aware that October is Fair Trade Month. I can’t tell you how tricky it is to keep up with everything going on in our ever-connected world.

Photo by Dave Anderson

Buying Fair Trade products is one of the ultimate ways to vote with your dollar. Yes, you will pay a premium price for that banana or bag of sugar. But that premium price not only pays a fairer share to the farmers who grew the products, it also allows the supported communities to pay for social, economic and environmental development projects through a community premium fund. You can read more about the impacts Fair Trade has on farming communities around the world on the Fair Trade USA website.

Heifer has a number of farmers around the world growing Fair Trade products. I had the pleasure of meeting Wilson Sanchez, an Ecuadorian farmer growing Fair Trade bananas back in August. His agroecological farm was amazing. And we’ve partnered with Green Mountain Coffee for quite some time on projects with Fair Trade coffee growers. Heifer’s role with these farming communities is to help them diversify their diets and incomes, because even Fair Trade farmers benefit from growing more than single crops of bananas, coffee, sugar or the like.

Photo by Dave Anderson

The problem I’m finding in my personal life, however, is the low accessibility of Fair Trade options in my local grocery store. Here in Little Rock, Arkansas, my best bet on finding Fair Trade products is to go to Whole Foods. Problem is, the overall cost of shopping there makes it cost prohibitive to do my entire Sunday grocery trip there, and it’s completely out of my way for a supplemental grocery trip. What I need is for my neighborhood grocery store to carry more Fair Trade products.

So here’s what I’ve done. You can do it, too. I just submitted an online comment to Kroger, the grocery store where I do most of my grocery shopping. If your grocery store has a website, chances are you can submit a comment online. If not, this would be a pretty easy thing to hand deliver to your store manager. Here’s what I wrote:

October is Fair Trade Month. I’d like to request that my local Kroger store (Beechwood in Little Rock, Arkansas) offer more Fair Trade options. The Fair Trade label assures a product that is socially and environmentally sustainable, and that is something I as a Kroger customer believe in. Specifically, I would like to see Fair Trade options for bananas and other fruits, cocoa and chocolate products, coffee, honey, herbs and spices, nuts and oilseeds, sugar and tea. 

When I want to purchase these types of products, I am currently forced to take my business elsewhere; namely to Whole Foods. Kroger is my preferred store, but often my desire for Fair Trade products overrides my preference. It would be fantastic not to have to make that decision, to have a wide range of Fair Trade products consistently available at Kroger.

Thank you for your consideration,

Brooke Edwards

How to Choose Coffee with a Conscience

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The next time you buy coffee, make sure you are environmentally aware about where you coffee comes from. The words Fair Trade, Shade-Grown, and Organic are just a couple of buzzwords that are now being used to describe your cup-of-joe.

Haven’t heard of these words? Here is what they mean:

What’s shade-grown coffee?

  • “Shade-grown” generally describes coffee grown under a canopy of diverse species of shade trees, often on small farms using traditional techniques.
  • Shade-grown coffee, in contrast to sun-grown or “technified” coffee, provides food and shelter for songbirds, as well as other animals and plants.
  • Shade trees also provide natural mulch, which reduces the need for chemical fertilizers. Up to 40 species of trees can be found on traditionally managed shade coffee plantations; these trees protect the coffee plants that grow beneath them from rain and sun, help maintain soil quality, reduce the need for weeding and aid in pest control. Organic matter from the shade trees reduces erosion, contributes nutrients to the soil, and prevents metal toxicities.
  • As rainforests disappear, shade coffee farms offer one of the last places for birds to feed and rest in many tropical regions. In addition to birds, shade coffee plantations provide habitat for orchids, insects, mammals (such as bats), reptiles, and amphibians.

What’s organic coffee?

  • Organic coffee growing strives for a balance with nature, using methods and materials which are of low impact to the environment.
  • Organic farming replenishes and maintains soil fertility, eliminates the use of toxic chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and builds a biologically diverse agriculture. In a natural ecosystem, nature constantly works to correct imbalances. Organic farmers do the same by selecting the most environmentally friendly solutions to the pest and disease problems that affect their crops.
  • When a grower or processor is certified organic, a public or private organization verifies that it meets or exceeds standards defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

What is fair trade coffee?

  • Certified Fair Trade coffee has been traded and sold according to international fair trade criteria, which includes:
    • Farmers are guaranteed a minimum price for their coffee. If world price rises above this floor price, farmers will be paid a small premium above market price.
    • Coffee importers provide credit to farmers against future sales.
    • Importers and roasters agree to develop direct, long-term trade relationships with producer groups, cutting out middlemen (or “coyotes”) and bringing greater commercial stability to an extremely unstable market.
  • The fair trade movement is based on the idea that producers in developing countries are capable of achieving economic success provided they receive fair prices in international markets for what they produce.
Learn more about organic, shade-grown and/or Fair Trade coffee at

Watch about Heifer’s work with small-holder farmers here: