We've long dedicated ourselves to ensuring the future of coffee, from setting guidelines for ethical sourcing to taking an open-source approach to agronomy. Another way we use our scale for good: by partnering with nonprofits to offer loans to coffee farmers who might not have access to traditional sources of financing.
We made our first farmer loan investment in 2000 for a project in Mexico, helping to establish a revolving line of credit focused on short-term financing for farmer cooperatives. By June 2015, we had committed $50 million to the Global Farmer Fund, providing tens of thousands of farmers around the world with the stability necessary to adapt to the greatest threat to their crop: climate change. By supporting soil management, crop production, restoration and infrastructure improvements, these loans have an impact beyond our supply chain. They directly influence coffee quality, sustainability and overall profitability for the entire specialty coffee industry.
