BALTIMORE, U.S. – Lutheran World Relief (LWR), in partnership with THRIVE Farmers, has announced the launch of LWR Farmers Market Coffee, sourced directly from farmers in Nicaragua.
This new venture — now accepting pre-orders — brings LWR, a faith-based international humanitarian organization with decades of experience working with small-scale farmers and agricultural cooperatives in the developing world, into a collaboration with THRIVE Farmers, an Atlanta-based coffee company.
LWR Farmers Market Coffee employs a farmer-direct model pioneered by THRIVE Farmers that will expand LWR’s work to help coffee farmers break the cycle of poverty, so they can feed and support their families with greater economic stability.
“One of the greatest problems facing coffee farmers is their ability to access markets that give them a stable, yet profitable price.
This partnership meets this challenge, while providing consumers the opportunity to directly support farmers through their informed purchases of high-quality coffee,” said Rick Peyser, a nearly 30-year veteran of the coffee industry and Sr. Relationship Manager for LWR’s coffee and cocoa programs.
In this farmer-direct approach, THRIVE Farmers partners directly with coffee farmers, eliminating the middleman, to provide a stable and higher price for coffee up front with larger profits after the coffee is sold.
“Our mission naturally pairs with the work LWR has been doing to help farmers around the world for so many years. We are grateful and eager for the opportunities we are collectively creating for the farming community,” said Michael Jones, co-founder and CEO of THRIVE Farmers.
LWR Farmers Market Coffee will bring coffee drinkers closer to the people they help with their purchases.
Because this coffee is sourced directly from LWR project participants, consumers will be able to see the faces and learn the stories of the actual farmers who grew their coffee, such as Gustavo Adolfo Talavera Herrera, a father of eight who grows coffee on 20 acres of his farm in Jinotega, Nicaragua.
He says he feels a sense of joy and tranquility when he works on his farm, despite facing challenges such as coping with the damaging coffee rust disease, and has been able to support his family and educate his children on the money he makes.
“I have only dedicated myself to growing coffee, since it is the product that has given us greater income to live,” he says.
Through their purchases, consumers will also be supporting and strengthening the work of LWR. For every pound of coffee purchased, THRIVE Farmers will donate 80 cents to LWR’s continued efforts to reach out to farmers around the world.
Just as local farmers markets create closer connections to those who grow our food, LWR Farmers Market Coffee will create a closer connection between the people who grow coffee and the consumers who enjoy the finished product.
To order LWR Farmers Market Coffee, visit the website, lwrfarmersmarket.org.
Learn more about LWR Farmers Market Coffee at lwr.org/coffee.
