Tag Archives: Green Mountain Coffee

Clinton Global Initiative: Designing for Impact

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It has been a whirlwind of events lately. First, I had an amazing three-week visit to Asia (India, Nepal, and Cambodia), then I traveled to California to be a part of Heifer International’s first “Beyond Hunger: A Place at the Table” event, and last week I was honored to attend the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York.

Young girls in Haiti participating in a Heifer International project

Project participants of Heifer International's goat value chain program proudly display their work. Photo courtesy of Heifer International

CGI is an extraordinary event that brings together an amazing group of individuals working in different fields to “turn ideas into action.” Heifer has had a presence at CGI since its inception in 2005. Last year was my first time to attend, and Heifer was privileged to present our Commitment to REACH: Rural Entrepreneurs for Agricultural Cooperation in Haiti.

Heifer International breeding center in Haiti

Heifer International's Tet Kole breeding center breaks ground near Port-au-Prince as part of its commitment to develop livestock micro-enterprises in Haiti. Photo by Dave Anderson, courtesy of Heifer International.

With our CGI Commitment, Heifer is working to strengthen social capital, support community building and develop rural enterprises in Haiti. REACH will improve the economic opportunities of 20,250 rural households over a period of five years in Haiti through Heifer’s proven approach of sustainable development. We are working with farmers to train them to develop their own livestock micro-enterprises.

The theme of this year’s CGI meeting was “Designing for Impact.” The charge is that we all need to be more efficient, more effective, and making the best uses of our resources. Heifer is already moving in this direction and has defined priorities that will help us increase our impact to help more families than ever before. In addition to reaffirming Heifer’s Commitment to REACH, I also looked this year to connect with potential partners for our some of our largest projects that would support our efforts in turning small farmers into business people on a scale large enough to transform entire communities and industries. We currently have successful partnerships, including Green Mountain Coffee, DANONE, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

An additional topic at CGI was gender equity. If you have read any of my previous blog posts, you know that women’s empowerment is an important and recurring theme for Heifer. Our approach, impact and success demonstrate that when we work in partnership with women, families benefit, communities advance and positive change occurs exponentially.

On a final note, I’d like to congratulate President Clinton on an amazing event. The energy was captivating, and I can’t wait to build on the relationships that have been formed.

A Bright Future for Coffee Growers in Honduras

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Editor’s Note: Story by Christian DeVries | Photos by Russ Powell

Catalino holds his young goat

Green Mountain Coffee is well-known for their delicious roasts. They care about their product and the people who buy it, but they also care about the farmers who grow it.

Coffee farmers can be vulnerable to yearly price fluctuations if they rely too heavily on one crop. Maintaining a diverse farm enables families to feed themselves. That is why Green Mountain teamed up with Heifer International. Heifer has been helping families build sustainable, self-reliant communities for almost 70 years. Together, they have established projects that are helping to improve food security, promoting proper nutrition, and creating diverse sustainable farms.

Catalino Vasquez Dominguez, 50, and his wife Bernardina Vasquez Calix, 51, are one such family. They live in El Mezcalito village, Marcala municipality, in the La Paz department of Honduras. Catalino and Bernardina are both from this area. After they were married, they lived in his parents’ small house. Eventually they were able to buy their own land where they built a grass hut. Life was difficult. They struggled to provide enough for their three children. To earn money, they harvested coffee for other farmers.

Bernardina shows off her tilapia pond

Like all parents, they wanted to give their children a better life, but they lacked the resources to create this change. Then they learned from their local cooperative, Cooperativa Regional de Agriculturas Organicos de las Sierras (RAOS), that a project was about to begin that would provide farmers with a variety of important resources. Catalino thought it would be a good project. “When he came with the news, we got very excited, especially about the fish. He has always wanted fish,” said Bernardina.

They received 200 tilapia fingerlings in June 2011 and vegetable seeds (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and radish) in June and August 2011. October brought a bio-gas unit, a sow came in December, and a goat was delivered in April 2012. The family planted fruit trees (avocado, apple, red plum and peach) in May. Fifteen chickens (14 hens and one rooster) joined the family in June, and they will soon complete construction of a greenhouse given to them by Heifer. Additionally, their sow is pregnant and is expected to give birth any day.

Catalino works in his cabbage garden

Their farm was chosen to be a model farm, a place where other project participants can learn through hands-on experience. This has kept the couple very busy. “We have more things to do on our land,” Catalino said. “I enjoy having a lot of work to do. I am always busy, but I love it. I also enjoy it when others come here to see what I’ve done and I can teach them.”

The trainings have benefited them, too. “I learned how to prepare the pond,” Catalino said. “I also learned that the water should pour into the pond from above to help oxygenate the pond.” They grow an astonishing variety of vegetables and fruits on their tiny farm of 1.5 manzanas, or about 2 acres, farm (1 manzana is equal to 1.72 acres). Having plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables to eat has improved their family’s diet.

“Before we didn’t have so many types of vegetables,” said Bernardina. “Now we have food security. Now we can eat fish and we make all-natural juices.” They used to eat mainly rice and beans with an occasional egg. Now a typical meal consists of salad, rice and fish.

Bernardina and Roger inspect the irrigation piping in their aloe field

In addition to being a source of food and income, the animals they received provide organic fertilizer. Catalino and Bernardina had very few animals before the project, just five hens, two pigs and five rabbits. Now with 80 fish, two goats, 29 chickens and one pig, they have lots of manure. They use manure to fertilize everything, and the land has responded favorably. “The soil is better,” Catalino said. “Whatever we plant now grows bigger and stronger, and it tastes better.”

The manure’s effect on their lettuce production is plain to see. Since using manure as fertilizer they are growing 3,000 pounds of lettuce a year, up 200 percent from their normal 1,000 pound crop. Their aloe plants have doubled in size, from 8 to 16 inches, and are more beautiful, too.

The nutritional effects of organic produce are clear. “It is a healthier product,” Catalino said. Healthier foods, combined with having more to eat, have greatly improved the family’s overall health. “Our skin has changed,” Bernardina said. “We had a lot of problems with our skin and pimples. We also have the flu less often because we are eating more vegetables.”

Catalino, Bernardina and Roger on their farm

Catalino and Bernardina are big Heifer supporters and say that Heifer’s policies are excellent. “Passing on the Gift® is unique,” Bernardina said. “The idea that Heifer promotes is that every family should try to produce all the food they need instead of buying it from elsewhere. We hope it will continue for generations. There will always be families that need help, so it is good for Heifer to continue. I am happy to be part of this project. If Heifer ever leaves Honduras, we will be able to continue on.”

Now their family has the resources: knowledge, land and animals, to change their future. They plan to hand these resources down to their youngest son, 14-year-old Roger Adalia Vasquez. “I want him to know how to manage my farm and everything in it,” said Catalino. “We are working hard and he is studying hard, so when he takes over the farm he can turn it into something bigger.”

Roger feeds his family's tilapia

Their two oldest children had to leave the village and find work in town. Bernardina is happy because she knows Roger has a choice. “There is an opportunity for my son to learn how to manage his own land. There is no need for him to leave. He doesn’t have to go out looking for income, because he can work here,” she said. She believes that other young boys and girls who aren’t already in the project will benefit from their example. “It is a motivation to other young people because they will see what our son will accomplish,” she said. Thanks to Heifer International and Green Mountain Coffee, they have hope for their future and the future of their children.

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

World Fair Trade Day

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Every second Saturday during the month of May, World Fair Trade Day (WFTDay), started by the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), is celebrated globally in more than 70 countries. The WFTO is composed of a global network of Fair Trade Organizations.

Since 2002, WTFO has been promoting WFTDay to enable producers of goods to improve their lives and communities through Fair Trade.

Heifer’s work with Fair Trade initiatives includes working together with Green Mountain Coffee to help coffee-growing communities build sustainable solutions to poverty and hunger.

Heifer works together with coffee-growing communities in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, to help address the periods of food insecurity regularly known as “the thin month.” This is when the income from the coffee harvest is depleted and the famers’ food reserves have been diminished.

You can watch a 6-minute clip of the new documentary, ‘After the Harvest’ that shows Heifer’s involvement: 


Choosing Fair Trade products helps support farmers around the world and ensures that producers receive the proper type of economic development and respect for the work they do in the international food system.

To learn more about World Trade Day, visit http://www.worldfairtradeday10.org/.