Social Responsibility

From the day when a young German immigrant with his treasured coffee plants found his promised land in the beautiful shade of the volcanic mountains near Matagalpa, five generations of descendants have gradually improved and consistently tended their fincas with the orderliness and environmental sensitivity that is typical of communities with Germanic heritage. For almost a hundred years, our farms have been more concerned with good agricultural practices, rainforest stewardship, and clean water than any of their counterparts in the region.

Marrying into the indigenous peoples, this ambitious and conscientious coffee producer found that his love of the land and coffee was broadened by the love of the culture and its people. Successive generations have been attentive to increasing the working conditions and lives of those who help produce our coffees - paying more than surrounding fincas, providing better housing, serving more nutritious food, facilitating schools and even higher education in one of the poorest countries in the Americas.

A tradition of stewardship

If you visited our farms, you would see the masonry worker housing of one generation, the retention ponds of another, the contour plantings of another, the community kitchens of yet another, and schools attached to some of our fincas. You might be surprised to see families dining on spotless tiled tables. The cooks might tell you that the workers no longer cut down valuable trees for firewood now that all the kitchens have modern propane stoves. You would be surprised to see that all of our fincas have a fully stocked infirmary with a full-time nurse who rotates among the farms on a weekly basis. While our country is grappling with providing health care, Fara Café sponsors visits from traveling medical teams, led by a doctor, at least monthly; response to emergency situations is facilitated by rapid transport to a local hospital. The Fara Café family has a higher inoculation rate than the general American public.

If you chatted with the civic leaders around Matagalpa, you might hear about the soccer fields and municipal gymnasium that Fara Café quietly facilitated or the hundreds of neo-natal masks that were brought down in suitcases to replace makeshift masks of plastic cups, Scotch tape, and tubing. You would surely be told how Fara Café stepped up, again quietly, in the midst of a medical strike and public health meltdown with a large contribution of critical medical equipment and supplies.

In 2004, Fara Café raised the bar for itself - with a proactive objective to have the most environmentally sensitive and socially responsible coffee production fincas in all of Nicaragua. Realizing that its laudable efforts had concentrated on the obvious and responsive to individual issues, we began a comprehensive look at our operations with the assistance of the two leading organizations dedicated to environmental and social stewardship - one public and one corporate - The Rainforest Alliance and Starbucks!

The Rainforest Alliance

Sustainable agriculture is at the center of the Rainforest Alliance's efforts to conserve ecosystems by protecting healthy soils, rivers and wildlife and by promoting dignified living conditions for farm workers and neighboring rural communities.

The unbridled and unsustainable growth of the agriculture industry in recent years has encouraged rampant deforestation and careless agrochemical use. Today, agriculture is the number one cause of ecosystem destruction and species loss worldwide. Agriculture occupies approximately one-third of the Earth's total landscape and uses more land and freshwater than any other human activity in the world.

The impact goes well beyond the environment. As a major employer, the industry affects social, economic and cultural conditions as well. Because of agriculture's widespread influence, the Rainforest Alliance works directly with those who use the land, primarily farmers, to promote economically viable, environmentally sound and socially equitable agriculture. Sustainable farms have minimal environmental footprints, are good neighbors to human and wild communities and are integral pieces of regional conservation initiatives.

Of almost 25 million coffee farmers in the world only fourteen producers have four of their farms individually certified by the Rainforest Alliance; Fara Café is honored to be among those enlightened producers and takes special pride in the fact that it is the only grower in Nicaragua who meets the rigorous standards for four fincas, individually.

Starbucks C.A.F.E. Practices

Starbucks Coffee Company initiated C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) Practices to evaluate, recognize, and reward producers of high-quality sustainably-grown coffee. Starbucks defines sustainability as an economically viable model that addresses the social and environmental needs of all the participants in the supply chain from farmer to consumer.

The C.A.F.E. Practices Evaluation Guidelines are comprised of a set of 26 criteria spanning a total of 12 Principles, which in turn are organized into 5 Subject Areas (Product Quality, Economic Accountability, Environmental Leadership - Coffee Growing, Environmental Leadership - Coffee Processing, and Social Responsibility). Collectively, these criteria/principles/subject areas define the socio-environmental-economic-quality aspects of coffee growing, processing and trading that Starbucks wishes to consider when deciding which coffee vendors it prefers to do business with. Increasingly, Starbucks is wholeheartedly committed to making a positive difference in the lives of farmers and their communities promoting the sustainability of coffee production.

In November 2001, Starbucks Coffee Company introduced green coffee purchasing guidelines that reward performance in several environmental and social categories, and enable suppliers to qualify as a Starbucks preferred supplier - all four of the Fara Café fincas have been designated as strategic or preferred suppliers.

Your role in creating a better planet

Regardless of one's political persuasion - we, our children, and their children benefit when our suppliers have a genuine interest in making this a better planet with responsible land stewardship and a sense for bettering the human condition. Destiny has enabled Fara Café to endeavor to make its contribution in one of the most beautiful, yet poorest, countries in the world.

When you choose a coffee, you vote with your dollars … rest assured, more of those dollars will go to further good works when you select Fara Café!