CAC Pangoa in Peru

Tucked away in the central Amazon region of Peru, just east of the Andean mountain range that runs through the center of the country, CAC Pangoa (Cooperativa Agraria Cafetalera Pangoa) has been serving its members since 1977. The coop has experienced a colorful history of good and hard times. It was founded by 50 farmers from a coop in neighboring city, Satipo, and grew to nearly 1700 members at its peak (in the early 1980s). With 3% of every sale, Pangoa was able to build most of the infrastructure that it uses to this day. During the period that's known as El Terrorismo ("the terrorism") when the Shining Path violently swept through what had, up to the late '80s, been the peaceful, isolated, rural areas of Peru, killing thousands of innocent people and carrying out a determined campaign of instilling paralyzing fear. CAC Pangoa lost hundreds of farmers who fled to cities to escape the terror. Since then, they have regained membership and currently serve approximately 600 members (2009).

CAC Pangoa began encouraging its members to switch to organics through a formalized program of training and documenting practices according to OCIA (international organic certifier) standards. In 2002, they got their first certification; today, about 50% of their members are either in transition or already certified organic. In 2001, they received FLO certification but had trouble finding a market to export to. Dutch NGO Green Development Fund sponsored the coop to send current manager Esperanza Dionisio and the president to go to the SCAA gathering in the US in 2003 where they learned of Cooperative Coffees. Since 2003, Pangoa has put forth strong efforts to provide Coop Coffees with high quality, consistent Fair Trade, organic coffee.

The coop is involved in the lives of its members beyond the purchasing and selling of their coffee. From promoting education to gender equality to better quality of life, Pangoa provides an exemplary model of Fair Trade. The Women's Development Committee (Comite de Desarrollo de la Mujer) works to benefit the female members, wives, and daughters. They organize medical check-ups for all women over 30 years old for prevention and early detection of several diseases. The committee is an integral part of the cooperative and strengthens it by forming new leaders and members with a new vision of development that includes and appreciates the female voice. Read more at our website

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Cooperative Coffees' Annual Meeting in Peru - Is it Time for a Fair Trade Makeover?
By Tripp Pomeroy

There's a bunch of news to report from our most recent trek to Peru, where Bill and I met and worked with our trading partners and fellow Coop Coffees members for an action-packed week Jan. 15-22. Meetings, farmer and coop visits, roundtables, and community events kept us fully engaged in what turned out to be (another) remarkable, unforgettable experience. So firstly, I want to thank our gracious hosts at CAC Pangoa and CEPICAFE/CENFROCAFE for taking the entire week to be with us, work with us, and teach us. The same thanks applies to the representatives from 12 of our trading partners' coops and the seven fellow members of Coop Coffees who made it to this year's annual meeting... what a wonderful group of talented, committed people!

Tripp visiting with trading partners from CAC Pangoa
during his recent trip to Peru.

Before I give a brief trip summary though, I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention how glad we are that Bill and our good friends from Bean North finally made it out of Aguas Calientes near Machu Picchu after a week of being trapped there with 4000 other tourists and locals as a result of catastrophic flooding. While we're thrilled that our friends and the other visitors made it out safely (thanks to the Peruvian government), we acknowledge the pain and suffering experienced by the folks who live in the area (and who have a long road to recovery ahead of them) and those who lost their lives or were injured.

Fortunately though, prior to Bill's unexpected stay in Aguas Calientes, we wrapped up what indeed was a very intense and productive week of work that brought together the coffee trade's two primary stakeholders - coffee farmers and roasters - for frank conversations about the work that needs to be done on Fair Trade. We have been visiting and working with our trading partners (mostly the same ones but new partners as well) for the past 10 years or so, but this meeting packed a bit more punch, as we established a joint task force (trading partners, roasters, and Cooperative Coffees as the importer) to go to work on identifying and, ultimately - hopefully, implementing what it's going to take to really make trade fair.. at least when it comes to coffee. Read More ...

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REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE...

By now, this is a very familiar slogan for most people and an obvious point of discussion in a 'Sustainability Series', right? And when we talk about waste management, recycling is certainly a huge component. So huge, in fact, that recycling is often thought of first. When it comes time to throw something away, we ask ourselves, 'is this recyclable'? And it may indeed be; but what happens if we actually express an order of importance and place these actions (reduce, reuse, recycle) into a waste management hierarchy? — first: reduce, then: reuse, finally: recycle.

• Reduce needless consumption and the generation of waste.
• Reuse any item that can be reused or give it to a person or charity that can.
• Recycle whatever discards remain, if you can, and only dispose of what you must.

Reducing the generation of waste so that there is no waste left to recycle would be the ideal. And while in this hierarchy, recycling is your least preferred option, please keep in mind that you can recycle organic matter on your own (food and yard waste) with composting. Also keep in mind the concept of "cycle" in the term "recycle". For there to be a complete cycle, the things you send to be recycled must come back to you. This means looking for products and packaging made with post-consumer content when you shop; otherwise the cycle stops short.

In the coffee house, we deal with the task of delivering to the community 'to-go' coffee drinks and snacks while striving to minimize our eco-footprint. We encourage folks to bring their own re-usable cup for a 10% discount. Our paper serving cups and bowls are 100% compostable/paper recyclable and are made from 24% post consumer content; while our 'plastic' to-go cups are made from corn. Even still, we worry about the quantity of our own waste. The 'corn plastic' is the compostable option to recyclable plastic, however, in a traditional backyard pile they can take a very long time to breakdown. We are currently evaluating whether the corn option is truly saving them from a garbage can or if our customers would recycle a plastic to-go cup and thus reduce landfill waste.

It is important to think about recycling before it ever gets to the point of handling waste. This means to think about the packaging of the products we buy, to buy in bulk where possible, to substitute reusable items for consumables, to use cloth grocery bags when shopping, to buy recycled products and to make recycling an easy habit at home. The choice about what to purchase may not always be easy and it takes practice to change a lifestyle. What we strive for here at Café Campesino is to give it our best shot and to continue to look for a better way.

We welcome your feedback on this or any other subject. Remember you can write to us anytime at info@cafecampesino.com.

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