Nicaragua Café Diego – Direct Trade Coffee
Project Description
Direct trade means many different things to different people. In a sense, all coffee is direct trade. The farmer grew it and passed it off to another buyer.
For Hemisphere Coffee Roasters, direct-trade means three things:
1. We stay involved in the lives of the grower year round. This is not a one-time purchase that exploits a farmer if NYBOT pricing is low this year. We insist that it works for all parties. The purchase of coffee must lead to improvement in living conditions for the workers, sustainability for the farm, and pride of a job well done, rewarded financially.
2. We advance pre-harvest funding that enables the farmer to stay out of preditory local banking (30 percent interest) for short-term operating loans. This alone has been the gamechanger for the farmers we deal with.
3. We create traceable brands that accuratly reflect the farmer and the community they were produced in. Coffee is a representation of a place and of a group of people. It is not the importer’s or roaster’s product to brand or disguise. We commit to acurratly representing these fine coffees by highlighting the very people and places which produce them.
We carefully select farmers to work with that are proven leaders in their communities and will be a conduit of blessing to those they employ and relate to. Often these farmers bring medical clinics, school teachers for the children, and provide spiritual support by way of pastors and counsellors to meet both physical and spiritual needs in the community.
Who Benefits from this Project?
Our Nicaragua SHG is purchased directly from the Diego and Leslie Chasvarria farm outside El Tuma, Nicaragua. This small community lies 60 kilometers outside of Matagalpa. High elevation and ideal growing conditions produce great lemony and chocolate notes in the coffee.
The farm is home to 90 adults who all work on this farm. These families directly benefit from our relationship. Prior to Hemisphere Coffee Roasters’ purchases, the farmer was unable to keep them working year round. There was no money in coffee. People went hungery and life was hard for everyone. Over the past 6 years we have purchased between two and three containers a year.
We have advanced pre-harvest funds to enable the farmer to emply the workers year round. When a worker has money, they will buy products at the market or a kiosk. The kiosk owner now has money to buy beef at the butcher shop. The butcher now has money to buy new tires, and on and on. When people are working, it brings an economical lift to the entire region. Real business that produces employement and paying jobs brings liberation and self worth. Something a hand out will never do.
How Can I Help?
We are passionate about sourcing high grade coffee and paying fair prices to this grower. The best way you can help is to allow us to fill your green coffee needs. This is a business-to-business solution to poverty and the macro isuess in coffee lands. Hand outs and subsities are not the answer. Ultimately, what a producer needs is the financial incentive to carefully produce high grade coffee. We are offering this coffee to you and/or your roaster. We have a full container (250 bags) of Café Diego in our warehouse in Central Ohio. You can help this farming community by including this exceptional coffee in your requirements.
Contact Name: Paul Kurtz
Web Site: www.hemispherecoffeeroasters
Location: 22 South Main Street Mechanicsburg, OH 43044
Email Address: kurtzpaul@hotmail.com
Phone Number: 937.834.3230
