About Level Ground Coffee

How Direct Trade coffee is helping people and communities:

Cafe La Paz, Bolivia

Cafe La Paz is purchased by Agricabv in Los Yungas. The price paid by Level Ground Trading has exceeded the FLO Fair Trade price by 26% and of that 67% has been paid directly to farmers, an additional 6% has been invested in the coffee farming community through wage support of a social worker, educational scholarships, computer equipment purchases and medical/dental traveling brigades.

Cafe Pangoa, Peru

CAC Pangoa is a 700+ member, FLO Cooperative in San Martin de Pangoa, Peru. CAC Pangoa is a progressive organization and is strong in leadership, gender equality and innovation. They have worked together to diversify crops and product offerings. They have utilized fair trade premiums for credit programs, crop diversification, women’s organization promotion, insurance, infrastructure improvements and technical assistance.

74% of the price we pay to CAC Pangoa goes directly to Farmers as a cash payment, an additional 13% is invested in the community under the direction of the Coop.

Cafe Mbeya, Tanzania

For the 3,812 farming families who comprise the HOPE Project, sales of the coffee they grow typically yields 50% or more of the annual family income. That means that the Level Ground Trading purchases of coffee from this region will translate to 50% or more of the household income for approximately 1300 farming families this year.

Additionally:
1. The prices being paid are higher than those paid by coffees grown in the same area and help support the ongoing organic farming practices of the HOPE Project farmers.
2. The prices being paid enable the CPUs to hire 60 full-time workers at peak harvest time to process Cafe Mbeya from fresh harvested cherries to sun-dried parchment.
3. Also, our purchases of the green coffee fund the total health insurance costs for 300 ‘mamas’ and their families, an estimated total of 1500 beneficiaries. They receive their treatment at no additional cost when they visit the Mbozi Missionary Hospital.

Cafe Awasa, Ethiopia

The co-op has 3094 member farmers representing a total population of 27,307 people.

We’ve worked hard to see the farmers receive both more money and a greater percentage of the money we pay for Ethiopian coffee. Many families are poor and until the past 3 years when Level Ground Trading started to purchase their coffee - the coffee prices they were receiving through other buyers were very low. For example, prices in 2001 and 2002 were only 25% of what they are receiving now through our Direct Fair Trade partnership. Farmers in the Fero Co-op do not generally have any other sources of cash besides the coffee they grow.

In 2008/2009 Level Ground Trading’s purchases will represent the cash income for 587 farming families. The negotiations we are undertaking on behalf of the farmers should have them paid higher than they were last year. As we heard time and again from the farmers - when they receive good payment for their coffee they have the means to eat better, access better education for their children and afford health care treatment.

Learn more on Level Ground’s website: http://www.levelground.com/

Level Ground Direct Fair Trade Organic Coffee is now available from Green Earth Organics! Check out the Coffee & Tea category (2nd and 3rd page) on the website or call us in the office at 604-708-2345 for more information.