Coffee trader Minas Hill Coffee has announced the launch of its #wearestrongertogether (Juntos Somos Mais Fortes) initiative, which aims to help small farmers in Brazil.
Minas Hill hopes to raise the awareness of Australian coffee roasters of the need to buy specialty coffee, and to buy it from small producers. This will include the trader donating 50 cents from every kilogram of coffee it sells back to its farming partner, the Association of Producers from Alto da Serra (APAS).
“[Producers] have been strongly and heavily impacted in Brazil,” Minas Hill CEO Marcello Brussi says. “That’s why it’s so important every one engages with this project.”
APAS is from the Mantiqueira region of Brazil. It comprises 35 small producers and its partnership with Minas Hill goes back until 2013. APAS runs the Flowers in Action project which creates new opportunities for female producers. Marcelo says the women of APAS – and female producers more broadly – are particularly vulnerable to the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Producers like Jose Paulo Borges – from Pinheirinho Farm – whose wife is blind and they are the only workers in the farm, are prone to suffer even more,” Marcelo says.
“This year, aside coffees from Flowers in Action, we have coffee from Luis Carlos Borges and Alessandro Hervaz, both Cup of Excellence finalists in 2018 and 2019. We also bring a blend of some of the producers called APAS Reserve.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a flow-on effect on producers around the world, with many suffering from labour shortages, impacted demand, and logistical issues.
For more information, visit www.minashill.com.au