Here is a great article that I read in Central America Data .com on how an innovative company is working with coffee growers in certain Central American countries. Maybe my friends in the coffee business in Panama can tell me why it is not happening here.
Thrive Farmers Coffee pays producers 50% of the proceeds from the sale of coffee to retailers, in another example of a fair trade initiative.
According to Kenneth Lander, one of its founders, Thrive Farmers Coffee is based on the idea that farmers can “participate in the added value as the coffee goes down to the final consumer.”
Nacion.com reports that “Typically, farmers sell green beans, ie unroasted coffee. In general, at this stage it is priced based on the commodities market, which in February averaged $3.37 a kilo for arabic coffee, according to the International Coffee Organization. The concept of fair trade brings an improvement to this model. The market price is paid for the grain, but more importantly, a minimum price is guaranteed- now about $3.10 a kilo of Arabic coffee. ”
“… The Thrive system is about development, payments are made to coffee farmers only after the product has been exported, packaged and sold to retailers – at a much higher price. If the coffee is sold at, say, $16 a kilogram, Thrive makes a 50-50 split of the profits with farmers who, for example, end up with almost $8 a kilogram. ”
“… The farmers who work with Thrive have to pay higher costs for processing and export, but Lander said they earn about four times what they would with this fair trade scheme once you include the costs of production and the cooperative shares. And Thrive helps to forge relationships with farms and cooperatives who process coffee. Then, once the beans have been shipped to the United States, Thrive takes over the management of packaging, roasting and sales. In some cases, Thrive sells green beans to roasters, and then the farmer receives 75% of the proceeds. ”
Thrive Coffee Farmers and producers are working with Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
Source: Nacion.com