PORTLAND, Oregon, U.S. — Heine Brothers’ Coffee, an organic and fair trade coffee roaster from Louisville, Kentucky, and green coffee importing cooperative, Coop Coffees, have announced commitments to support a regenerative agroforestry tree planting campaign in Northern Peru launched by Grow Ahead, a crowdfunding platform that supports small-scale farmers and climate resiliency projects around the world.
Through the campaign, Grow Ahead is raising funds for one of Coop Coffee’s producer partners, Norandino Cooperative, aiming to revitalize coffee production in the region while supporting the conservation and reforestation of the local ecosystem. Norandino Cooperative and its producers have also already committed to financially contribute to the project.
“The commitments by Heine Brothers’ and Coop Coffees to this campaign, in addition to Norandino’s own contribution, is an example of how our global community can unite across borders to tackle climate change, regenerating land and livelihoods,” says Grow Ahead Director Ryan Zinn.
“This agroforestry program will support Norandino Cooperative through ecological restoration and by diversifying sources of income for farming families with a variety of crops. We encourage our supporters to join our collective effort through the crowdfunding campaign.”
In the mountainous Andean Páramos region of Peru, 64 families within the Norandino Cooperative who depend entirely on coffee cultivation for their livelihood had their coffee trees destroyed by coffee rust. They also experienced heavy flooding last year leading to catastrophic economic losses.
Raising $46,700 will support the goals of the project, which include:
• Planting and cultivating 135,000 coffee seedlings of a variety naturally resistant to coffee rust on 30 hectares.
• Cultivating 69,000 native tree seedlings in the first year for the reforestation of an additional 55 hectares.
• The creation of three community associations to monitor ecosystem health and to support with education and capacity-building around conservation.
For their contribution to the campaign, Heine Brothers’ Coffee is launching a new coffee blend in their shops and on their website called, “Traveler Blend.” With each purchase of a 12-ounce bag of Traveler Blend, Heine Brothers’ will donate $1 from the proceeds to cover the cost of one tree being planted with Grow Ahead to support the project aiming to have at least 1,000 trees from the company’s effort planted within the first year.
“Heine Brothers’ has always been a leader of sustainability in the Louisville community,” says Heine Brothers’ Coffee Director of Marketing & Technology Chuck Slaughter.
“Through recycling used milk jugs, newspapers, boxes, to-go cups, and everything else possible in our cafes; to composting our spent coffee grounds & tea leaves; to roasting on the most environmentally-friendly coffee roaster on the market; and only sourcing 100% organic & fair trade coffee, Heine Brothers’ is committed to treating the planet and its people with dignity and respect.”
Coop Coffees intends on matching funds with Heine Brothers’ donation, which means that for every dollar a Heine Brothers’ customer contributes towards this work with their purchase of Traveler Blend, $2 will be channeled to this reforestation project in Peru alongside Coop Coffees’ other external, funding contributions.
“We are delighted to see this relationship flourishing between Grow Ahead and Heine Brothers to the benefit of our historical, key producer partners in Peru through reforestation,” says Coop Coffees Director of Sustainability Monika Firl.
“Norandino was hit very hard by the flooding last year and communities are still rebuilding. I can’t imagine a more important project for local communities in the region. Coop Coffees is committed to match any funds raised through this collaboration.”
This campaign is part of Grow Ahead’s larger mission to plant 1 million trees by 2020 in partnership with small-scale farmers. To learn more about the Norandino Cooperative tree planting campaign for Reforestation and Revitalizing Coffee Production in Peru, please visit: https://growahead.org/give-trees- reforestation-and-revitalizing-coffee-production-in-peru/
To watch Grow Ahead’s tree planting campaign video, please visit: https://growahead.org/plant-trees/
