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PRESS RELEASE: Brewing Hope: Bringing Fair Trade Coffee from Chiapas to Ann Arbor: “Brewing Hope is a new project created by Ann Arbor residents and led by a group of University of Michigan students who want to create a direct relationship with farmers from Chiapas, Mexico. Their goal is to bring Fair Trade coffee directly from one cooperative in Chiapas?Yachil?to local cafes and grocery stores in Ann Arbor, while educating consumers about the social and environmental benefits of fair trade coffee through educational pamphlets that will be available along with the coffee.

Brewing Hope has already been in contact with several Ann Arbor coffee shop owners who have expressed enthusiasm for this project. Brewing Hope has also partnered with Higher Grounds Trading Co., Michigan?s only 100% fair trade gourmet coffee company, because of the company?s unique relationship with many fair trade farming co-ops in Chiapas. Higher Grounds will be contracting a local Ann Arbor roaster, Perk and Brew, to roast, package, and distribute the coffee. The first order of coffee from Yachil arrived in Ann Arbor on June 9th. From Aug. 15th to Aug. 23rd, Brewing Hope, in conjunction with Higher Grounds Trading Co., will lead a delegation of University of Michigan students to Chiapas. They will investigate the effects of the coffee crisis in Chiapas and the important role of fair trade and organic agriculture in providing Ann Arbor?s partner cooperative, Yachil, with liveable wages and a healthy environment. “

The series of articles below report on the reason for Tesoros Del Sol’s existence. The owner, Janet Blakeley, was, and is, living amidst a number of the farmers that were hit hard by the plummeting coffee prices. She saw first hand the men that were unable to feed their families and the devastating effect that this can have on the local community. She was motivated to share the knowledge that she had of organic farming. She knew that by making the transition over to certified organic, that the farmers would then be in a positive cash flow position with their crops. Organic coffee is the answer to the current global coffee crisis.

Nestles: Coffee prices have reached an historic low, which leaves many coffee farmers and their families facing an extremely difficult situation. This is a matter of concern for Nestlé.

Current low coffee prices are primarily the result of global overproduction. Productivity improvements by major producers like Brazil, as well as competition from efficient new entrants such as Vietnam, have lowered the cost structure of the coffee bean industry, leaving many traditional growers in the red (source : “Easing coffee farmers’ woes” - McKinsey Quarterly March 2004 – registration required). Concerted efforts are needed to bring supply and demand in balance to a point where the prices allow the average producer to receive an acceptable return for labour and investment. Governments, civil society, coffee companies, as well as growers each have an important role.

The McKinsey Quarterly: Easing coffee farmers’ woes: “Easing coffee farmers’ woes Coffee prices continue their steady decline, creating an economic and humanitarian disaster for many of the world’s 25 million coffee farmers, whose production costs have exceeded revenues for four successive seasons. The take-away Producers of higher-quality beans should move into specialty coffee markets. The rest might be better off diversifying into other crops and into related businesses, such as tourism and light manufacturing. “

Wall Street Journal- Fair Trade Could Help Latin American Coffee Bean Woes: “The fight has left the world awash in java and has driven inflation-adjusted prices for beans to their lowest levels in more than a century. ‘We’ve had no work since February and are here begging for our lives,’ says Mr. Luna, a listless 33-year-old, surrounded by a group of visibly malnourished, unshod children. They are living on wild bananas and the charity of passersby. ‘At least during the war there was food,’ he says. In lush coffee-growing regions from Central America to Africa, the collapse of world coffee prices is contributing to societal meltdowns affecting an estimated 125 million people.

The term ‘organic’ is tossed around so much these days that there is a rising skepticism as to what it really means. Tesoros Del Sol shares this skepticism. The term ‘organic’, with reference to coffee, is more than just not using chemicals in the cultivation and processing of the coffee, although these aspects are certainly vital. In the world of coffee production, the term ‘organic’, when properly applied, affects peoples lives. But first, what is organic?

Certified Organic coffee has passed a rigorous process of inspection. When a coffee farmer decides to go organic, he is commiting to a 3 year process. During the 3 years, he is not using any chemical fertilizers, nor pesticides, nor herbicides. He is also being inspected by an international, (or national depending on the route he chooses to go), certification organization. Tesoros Del Sol™ utilizes Skal which is international, and extremely demanding. For more about organic certification, and genuinely organic products, click here. As for how organic farming is affecting peoples lives in Latin America, read on.

Organic coffee production provides a means by which families in Costa Rica, who have been supporting themselves for several generations with coffee cultivation, can continue to do so. Organic coffee brings a higher price in the world market, and the current demand for organic coffee outstrips the supply. The world coffee market pays a very low price for a pound of coffee. This is a factor which does not in any way benefit the consumer. There has been no dip in coffee prices at grocery store shelves, nor in coffee houses. The current price that the worldwide coffee market offers for a pound of coffee is well below the cost of producing a pound of coffee in Costa Rica. So when a consumer specifies ‘organic’ in their coffee purchase, they are directly helping families in countries such as Costa Rica.

Tesoros Del Sol has a payment policy that is more than double the going rate for a pound of coffee in Costa Rica. Under their agreements, farmers actually are provided a means by which they can sustain their families.

OK, so that addresses the social aspect of ‘organic’. How about the environmental concerns? At our gourmet organic coffee site you will see a pictorial tour of one of our Costa Rican farms, and then see comparison photos with farms that utilize chemical fertilizers and herbicides. The difference will astound you. The difference between the two methods of coffee cultivation is, in a word: Life. The fields where the coffee is grown have life all around, allowing the natural balance of the life-sustaining environment to flourish. On the other hand what is seen in fields where there is no natural balance, but, instead, the forced productivity of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, there is a notable absence of life.

Also, a truly fine, or ‘gourmet’ coffee, should be grown in the shade. This takes a bit longer for the bean to mature, but the results are well worth it. Another benefit is that the shade producing trees provide habitat for the birds.

So, to sum it up, the abundant life of a coffee field, the fact that there are no harmful chemicals washing down into rivers that run into the sea, and the habitat that is provided for the birds, all add up to a truly ‘earth friendly’ product.

There is a trend toward organic that is taking root all around the globe. Tesoros Del Sol is taking active steps to promote this trend by educating conventional farmers in the practices of organic coffee cultivation, and helping them to get through the lengthy transition process that is required to make the change from conventional to organic.