Our goal is to connect growers to roasters in a way that improves price stability at the farm level, distributing income more equitably along the supply chain.

This work began in Colombia, where we guarantee stable returns and training for coffee producers who want enter the specialty market. Roasters who work with us receive direct access to information from the associations they support season on season.

We don’t work with large estates. We buy instead from small associations representing many producers, giving access to predictable income for a greater number of people. The hectares of land that produce coffee sold by one large estate, could represent the same landmass owned by hundreds of producing families. 

The yield is the same, but the effect is very different.

This philosophy lies at the core of our work, and as support grows, we are able to expand our reach further.

Through the specialty market, farmers can better predict and control their income. However, there are technological, social, and financial barriers to those who would benefit most. In response to this, we ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2016, to help fund the building of a community wet mill in Quindío, Colombia.

Community wet mills are not common-place in Colombia, but in many countries they are the norm. As part of Raw Material’s philosophy, we aim to remove obstacles to quality production, connection, and economic sustainability for producers. Hubs like this are one way to address these blocks.

Once complete, this project will provide neighbouring producers with better control over coffee quality, but also their income through a stable pricing system.

El Fénix provides a rare opportunity for people from different points of the value chain to meet in person. We have the opportunity to make good on the promise of development through trade, and allow communication across the value chain to happen under one roof.

El Fénix Community Wet Mill and Farm

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COMMUNITY WET MILL & CUPPING LAB
UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Despite good production levels, income from coffee recently dropped to unsustainable levels. Producers faced a crossroad; either find alternative means of income, or find a more sustainable market.

Two core constraints faced those that choose option two: a lack of key infrastructure to produce quality coffee, and access to stable prices in return.

Together, we overcame both of these challenges.

Physically, we built drying bed facilities and QC infrastructure at the community central hub. Through a new payment system we can provide stable prices that result in 2.5x the average household income, compared to previous seasons.

El Carmen provides stable and sustainable prices for a producer through a connection to the specialty market, improved quality control, and shared knowledge across the value chain.

El Carmen Raw Material’s pilot association project

2.5x

the average market price earned by producers

The station currently represents the harvests of 30 coffee producing families in the surrounding area of Jamaica, sitting at altitudes higher than the drying station itself. As Villamaría sits at a lower altitude, it is better suited to the processing of honey and natural coffees due to the hotter temperatures found here.

Villamaría produces small lots using a Nuna dehydrator, to control the drying of portions of honey and natural coffees from the local producers.

Raw Material’s philosophy ensures that individual farmers earn a minimum stable price for the dry parchment coffee they produce. This price results in over double the household income of a typical coffee producing family, compared with the average income in the regular market over the past 5 years. If the quality is found to be of markedly higher quality, an additional premium is offered to the producer.

Villamaría Honey and natural processing station

2.5x

the average market price earned by producers

Igualdad Mujeres Hombres, is a collective of producers, who promote workshops and intellectual exchange between coffee producers across Risaralda and Valle del Cauca, both male and female. Their goal is to encourage respectful dynamics between male and female producers in the region.

The group focusses on the improvements to quality, through management and training to ensure a place within the specialty arena. This work has the added impact in promoting female coffee producers to both local and global players in the supply chain.

This is an initiative focussed heavily on the continued education necessary to produce and process high quality coffee. This work includes training in processing techniques, from picking to drying to achieve the best cup profile for the specialty market. 

This group of producers continues to make the gradual changes necessary to promote the equal status of male and female coffee producers, and members of Colombian society.

Mujeres de Risaralda during our visit to Finca El Limón, Quinchía

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Different associations represented by this collective

Our work in Timor-Leste has championed the development of specialty coffee production in the country. As the project expanded, Ameta managed the construction of a community wet mill in Atsabe, in rapid time and under budget. Not one to rest on his achievements so far, he used the remaining budget to purchase and process cherry, producing specialty grade coffee, just in time to join the competition.

When the results were announced, Ameta took to the stage to take the 1st place in his first year of entry, with the highest scoring arabica coffee that the country has ever been awarded. The coffee, Rae Buci Lara, a naturally processed lot, took 86.13 points to win the competition, with Atsabe also taking 3rd and 5th positions, with two washed processed coffees. Congratulations to everyone involved in the competition, and for all of the team who were involved in the win for Atsabe!

Atsabe Project development

2.5x

the average market price earned by producers