Fresh Cup

FEB 2013

Fresh Cup Magazine, providing specialty coffee and tea professionals with unique insight into the trends, ideas, products and people that shape their world.

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( ( ( ( ( ( ( ( OFF the WIRE ) ) NEWS BR IE FS )) ))) ) GROW AHEAD is currently working to fund production at Pangoa cooperative in Peru. WILL CONSUMERS CHIP IN TO FUND COFFEE HARVESTS? Over the past decade, many roasters and cafés have struggled to make consumers understand the complexities and hardships behind the world's best coffees. Meanwhile, on the other end of the supply chain, farmers have run into barriers trying to access the cash needed to push innovation and ensure healthy harvests. A Web-based pilot program called Grow Ahead aims to tackle both those challenges—and to throw a fresh wrinkle into the economics of specialty coffee in the process. The effort, from Dutch development nonprofit Progreso and importing co-op Cooperative Coffees, is a sort of Kickstarter for coffee funding. Consumers lend their own money—loans of as small as $25 are accepted—to help directly fund a particular producer group's harvest. Months later, when those beans complete their journey to the U.S., funders can get their money back or return it to the Grow Ahead system to help finance a harvest at another farm. Then they can head to a local shop and taste the fruits of their lending efforts. The first Grow Ahead-funded harvest recently wrapped up at the Apecaform co-op in Guatemala, and the container that resulted will soon be headed to Cooperative Coffees' warehouse in New Jersey, the distribution base for Cooperative's 23 roaster members across the United States and Canada. The project is now looking to raise money for its second undertaking, a harvest at the Pangoa co-op in Central Peru. Though many progressive funding models currently exist in the coffee sphere, individuals who spend time in producing countries note that getting capital to farmers before the actual harvest remains a major issue. Says Lee Wallace, who runs Minneapolis-based Peace Coffee in Minneapolis, a roaster that is a member of Cooperative Coffees: "Especially after the fluctuations in the C market over the past couple of years, a lot of the trading partners we work with cite lack of access to capital as one of their biggest challenges in terms of managing their businesses at origin." Grow Ahead is built on alleviating that problem by bringing cash to farmers at the outset of the harvest season and freeing them from the pressures of only getting paid when they pick. Grow Ahead creators add that on the consumer end, the pilot has the potential to bring coffee drinkers deep into the production and transport process. "When your own money is invested, you tend to pay a little more attention," notes Monika Firl, the producer relations manager at Cooperative Coffees. Once lenders log into their account on growahead.org, they have access to a detailed description of the producer group or groups that need backing. After a loan is made, the consumer can track the coffee's progress on a timeline. And once the beans complete their journey to an importer warehouse, backers receive an email asking if they'd like their money returned, put behind another project or donated to Grow Ahead to help the organization pay administrative fees. "You as a lender see that coffee is MORE COFFEE AND TEA NEWS OF NOTE FROM THE PAST MONTH: FAIRTRADE INTERNATIONAL, which saw its U.S. arm (Fair Trade USA) break away at the beginning of last year, re-established an American presence in mid-January. The organization is called Fairtrade International USA, and it will work to support roasters and other brands in the U.S. that offer products continued on page 20 18 Fresh Cup Magazine freshcup.com

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