Pachamama Coffee Cooperative

Pachamama Coffee Cooperative

By Mary Garvie

"Please don't buy our coffee out of charity; buy it because it's a great organic product."

-Robert Acuña, Peru

What could be better than drinking organically grown, fairly traded, expertly roasted, premium coffees? That would have to be drinking organically grown, fairly traded, expertly roasted, premium coffees purchased from farmer-owned Pachamama Coffee Cooperative!

It is exciting to be able to offer these premium organic fair trade coffees direct from the farmers to you. Unique in the world of organic fair trade specialty coffee, Pachamama Coffee Cooperative is comprised of regional producer cooperatives that are made up of community farm cooperatives that represent more than 50,000 family farms in Peru, Mexico, Nicaragua, Guatemala and most recently, the Oromian region in Ethiopia.

Another attractive aspect to Pachamama's coffee is that it's available primarily through food co-ops. Why? General Manager Thaleon Tremain explains, "From the beginning, our farmer-owners have insisted we must approach food cooperatives throughout the country before making this unique product available to more conventional retailers. This is logical: food cooperatives and their members care about food and they care about people. If farmers are going to sell their best organic coffee, then they must first go straight to the consumer co-ops that have always supported them."

In the typical fair-trade transaction, roasters negotiate a price and purchase the green beans from the farmer-cooperatives. Even when the roasters pay fair-trade prices for the beans, they have the upper hand in the negotiation and reap the profit on the roasted product. Unlike the other fair trade organic coffee roasters, Pachamama farmer-members own their co-op. As owners, the producers retain control of their beans and they earn a larger percent of profit than they do when they sell the green beans to a roaster. This means that there is more money returned to their communities.

Tremain makes this distinction, "Pachamama allows the farmer to "fish" for himself in the USA. What the others do is they catch a better "fairly traded" fish for the farmers, [and] then give it to them. What if they [other roasters] don't want to catch fish any more? What if they can't catch fish anymore? What if they elect to give the fish to another farmer? What if they don't remain competitive and lose market-share? Who makes the decisions? Well, ultimately, it's the boards of directors of the other companies." Tremain continued, "The fair-trade model is wonderful, but it must evolve. Times are changing rapidly. By selling fresh coffee direct to you, Pachamama offers its shareholders the opportunity to participate in the real money being made in coffee, not just a "fair" price."

California-based Pachamama Coffee Cooperative receives green coffee exported from their member cooperatives in Peru, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico and Ethiopia. Then, as they receive orders from food co-ops and online consumers, Pachamama employs the services of certified organic roaster, Taylor Maid Farms in Sebastopol, CA to roast and distribute their wares. As they expand their service beyond the West Coast, Pachamama is in the process of finding additional organic certified roasters to service regional accounts and intends to select a roaster in the Midwest by spring 2008.

¡Mark your calendars! May 5, 2008 (Cinco de Mayo)

Don't miss this opportunity to meet Pachamama Coffee Cooperative's Board of Directors. During the morning of Monday, May 5, producer representatives will visit our co-op to share some conversation and some freshly brewed Pachamama coffee. Watch for more information as the date nears.

Founding Members

COCLA, (La Central de Cooperatives Agrarias Cafetaleras) formed in 1967 by seven founding agricultural cooperatives in the Peruvian Andes, has grown to represent more than 8,500 family farms and a history of coffee farming dating back more than 100 years.

La Unión Regional de Huatusco Mexico, formed in 1982 representing more than 1,900 family farms.

PRODECOOP, (Promotora de Desarollo Cooperativo) located in Las Segovias of northern Nicaragua formed in 1993. Today it represents more than 2,300 families.

Manos Campesinas, (Asociación de Pequeños Productores de Café) Quetzaltnago ("Xela"), Guatemala formed in 1997 and represents more than 1,000 family farms.

OCFCU (Oromia Coffee Farmers Cooperative Union) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Resources:

• Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF) 2002 Annual Report; p.7
• InfoDev 2003 Annual Report; p.63
• coclaperu.com/organizacion_historia.html
• www.pachamama.coop