Cedros

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The Coffee

Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Cedros Café (Cedros) was founded on May 10th, 2013. The farmers are located in many different districts in Cajamarca North in Peru. The cooperative is medium sized with about 300 members and was established in order to generate greater representation and participation among its members, to provide them with better access to public and private funding and to develop niche markets and become an active participant in the coffee social movement both at national and international levels.

Price transparency and premiums to producers, first and second payments

Cedros incentivises its members by paying premiums for cup quality, providing farm infrastructure such as solar dryers, implementing post harvest processing equipment like pulpers and fermentation tanks, and many other initiatives to improve cup quality. This assistance with infrastructure is accompanied by practical training.

The management team

Jorge Carrillo Enrriquez is the manager of the cooperative and very engaged in every aspect of the operations. The administration team performs both administration and operational functions. There are two people in the accounting team, and two in the QC team. This department carry out physical and sensorial control in order to guarantee traceability and product quality. There is also a field team of three technicians/agronomists.

Sustainability

Cedros is under the umbrella of a sustainability project called “Cafe Selva Norte”. Launched in 2019, the project has been co-developed with 6 cooperatives in northern Peru (in the Amazonas and Amazonas coffee origin regions) and is the first of several large-scale projects in Latin America. For every pound (lb) of coffee you buy, 5 US cents (USC) is funnelled back to the project which offer a producer-based holistic solution to the complex sustainability challenges facing the coffee value-chain.

In 2020, ELEVAFINCA has started a new origin project in Northern Colombia with Red Ecolsierra aiming to generate similar sustainability impacts. The Café Selva Norte project directly supports the following activities:

  • Transition to sustainable land use (agroforestry and forestry)
  • Minka: an impact traceability software
  • Quality improvement through technical assistance, organic fertilisation, post-harvest training and supply chain infrastructure.

By sourcing coffee from Selva Andina, you are directly contributing to the following sustainability impacts, generated since it's launch in 2019:

  • Lent 338,000 USD to 170 producers across the 6 partner cooperatives
  • Renovated and built 170 hectares of agroforestry systems.
  • Developed 5 nurseries in order to achieve the production goals which has led to: 61 742 shade trees, 886 575 coffee trees planted.

Over the next 14 years, this origin project aims to:

  • Finance 3,000 producers,
  • Renovate 6,500 hectares of agroforestry,
  • Conserve 200,000 hectares of forest.

Leading to the plantation of more than 2.6 million shade trees, more than 29.6 million coffee trees and to the sequestration and reduction of 3,850,000 tons of CO2 .

Our sourcing program

The coffees are either micro-lots or communal or cooperative producer blends from the areas in the north around Jaen and San Ignacio. The farms are normally between 1-3 hectares and are family run. They harvest, pulp, ferment and dry the coffees at the farms. If the producers are part of a premium program, like ours, they will more likely invest in their production and sit on enough parchment to create potential micro-lots or improved community blends.

So far most of our coffees are coming from small caserios (villages) in La Coipa, Colosay, San Ignacio and other similar places. These are all places that we have identified with great potential through selective cupping. We also know that our exporting partner is investing in the producer relations there with support on quality protocols, traceability programs and premiums.

The concept for us is the same across the communities where we source. We select micro-lots of the coffees that are high performing at lot sizes between 10 - 20 bags. And we try to buy producer blends from the same areas as much as we can. The program is based on good premiums paid to the producers across all our coffees. To invest in the communities is crucial to get a consistent supply and to give the farmers incentives to invest.

The Farmer

Region: Cajamarca and Amazonas

Sub-Region: Jaén and San Ignacio and more

District: Tabacones, La Coipa, Bellavista, Colasay, Huabal, Las Parias, San Jose del Alto

Altitude: 1550-2020 

Variety: Caturra, Pache, Catuai, Typica, Catimor

Processing: Washed

Average farm size: Less than 2 hectares

Farmers/Members: 303

Main Crop: May-October

Processing