How does the Relationship Business Model and Direct Trade really work for the farmers? How does this compare to Fair Trade?
Fair Trade, provides additional monies to increase the price paid to the coffee farmers for their green beans according to a globally established "Fair Trade Price".
We provide a better than Fair Trade global price to the farmer, but we do much much more.
Through our Direct Trade Relationship Business Model we:
1. We establish a business partnership with each farmer
2. We pay the farmer to complete each step in the coffee process from the farm gate to shipment to Canada. This means they are paid to harvest the coffee, wash the beans and remove the pulp, check each bean and sort them into "premium" and "ordinary" quality beans, sun dry the beans on their raised bamboo drying pads, remove the husk around the beans, again sort the beans and select only the "premium" quality green beans, bag the green beans and label the bag and record the name of the farmer who grew the beans, and record the general growing details for that harvest year.
3. We pay the farmers to bring together all the bags of premium coffee that will be shipped to Canada.
4. We pay the farmers to organize the entire shipment process in their country of origin, providing them with the resources to establish a cooperative, a business license and all the other business infrastructure needed for them to be able to export the coffee.
5. We pay them to organize the container process, load the coffee in the container, pay the shipping company, etc.
6. Then we also provide the farmer with a share in the sale proceeds of roasted coffee in Canada. We work out an annual business budget with them, set strategy for improving agricultural practices, sales and marketing approaches, enhance business infrastructure from buying a motorcycle for better transport to buying new pulping machines, etc.
All the above contributes to the “better than Fair Trade” price we are able to give to the farmer for their green beans, and cumulatively, not only does it improve their income, it empowers the farmers to be business "equals" with us (their Canadian business partners) and truly make the Relationship Coffee Business an equal partnership with the farmers.
Other North American coffee businesses work with coffee farmers as well, but often their primary goal in doing this is to secure the source of the coffee for their own North American business needs. Once that particular farmer or coffee no longer provides the North American company with what they want to maximise their shareholders profits…… the farmer becomes history.
The Relationship Business Model defines our whole relationship in terms of a long term sustainable partnership so that the farmer can now plan on the annual income and improve their longer term lifestyle by better providing for their families medical, nutritional, and educational needs. The underlying premise for the Relationship Business Model is not to secure a coffee source or maximize profit margin, but to work with the farmers and empower them to have access to North American wealth and transform their lives from subsistence living, [being totally subject to the considerable fluctuations in global coffee prices and the faint hope of being able to sell their beans], to a sustainable improved quality of life. A quality of life that you and I often take for granted every day.
We choose to work for the farmers. For me there is something very satisfying about being able to trust people, rather than corporations.
