Peru Fair Trade Organic

First new crop from Peru arrived September 2024. This lot comes from the APROCASSI Cooperative located in the mountain region of the Cajamarca province. The cooperative aims to produce high quality coffee while improving the standard of living of its members through higher prices. They regularly invest in programs geared toward coffee quality and productivity. Most of the workers have family land where they grow a variety of products, including coffee at the higher elevations. The cooperative became Fair Trade certified in 2001 and has financed many social and productivity programs using its Fair Trade premium in addition to paying the producers directly for their coffee sales. APROCASSI was awarded Fair Trade USA's very first Cooperative Small Grant to develop a rust mitigation program through environmental management, to combat the invasive coffee rust disease that many coffee producing countries are were facing at that time.

One of the major obstacles confronted by the coffee supply chain in Peru is the ability to transport the product easily. There are constant delays due to problematic infrastructure or lack there of. The Aprocoyce group took measures to improve quality by providing covered drying beds for all of the partnering producers as well as social premiums and financial aid to the members. The main goal is to make it possible for producers to properly dry their coffee before it reaches the dry mill, which ultimately increases the quality of coffee and expedite the process in the long run.

APROCASSI currently has 600 active members, distributed throughout the provinces of San Ignacio and Jaen in the department of Cajamarca, with crops grown at altitudes ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 meters above sea level. The cooperative also develops social and environmental projects, thus contributing to improve the living conditions of our producers and maintaining environmental sustainability.

Peru is the world's leading producer of organic coffee. Fair Trade USA and USDA Organic Certified.