This National Coffee Day (September 29, 2016) marks the one-year anniversary of Starbucks One Tree for Every Bag Commitment, an effort by Starbucks customers and partners (employees) to help combat the plague of coffee rust in Latin America.
Coffee rust, a fungus that attacks trees, makes it nearly impossible for farmers to produce high-quality coffee.
In just one year, the company has donated enough funds to plant 18 million rust-resistant coffee trees, 10 million of which have already been distributed this past summer to farmers in need.*
To help reach its goal of 20 million trees by year end, Starbucks will donate a coffee tree on behalf of each customer who purchases a brewed Mexico Chiapas coffee in a participating U.S. and Mexico stores on National Coffee Day.
“I have seen firsthand the devastation coffee rust has had on farmers. The initial distribution of these coffee trees has already had a positive impact with potential to help farmers and their families for years to come,” said Craig Russell, executive vice president, Starbucks Global Coffee.
“We are very thankful to those people who can purchase a pound or two of Starbucks coffee; they are contributing to the production of coffee in Chiapas,” said coffee farmer Rolando Javier Lopez Angel. “In this way, we can support our families.”
Starbucks began its One Tree for Every Bag commitment to help farmers like Rolando, a third-generation Chiapas coffee farmer, by leveraging its supply chain and collaborating with organizations like Conservation International to create impact, at scale.
“We have an ambitious goal of planting 20 million trees and celebrating Chiapas coffee, the birthplace of our ethical sourcing program over a decade ago. This is the perfect way to have our customers and the coffee community become part of the solution on National Coffee Day,” said Russell.
Impact to Date
Starbucks has donated enough funds to plant 18 million rust-resistant coffee trees in just one year
This summer, with the help of Starbucks supplier ECOM Agroindustrial Corp., the first phase of distribution began when 10 million healthy coffee trees were distributed to farmers in need across El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico
More than 6,200 farming families received new coffee trees helping to rehabilitate more than 2,500 hectares of farmland
Nearly 800 jobs were created to support the initial distribution of these coffee trees
Each healthy coffee tree will grow enough green coffee to roast and package one pound of finished coffee
“We believe that a sustainable coffee future for Mexico is a commitment to Mexican farmers.
The combination of Starbucks’One Tree for Every Bag program, along with our Integrate Plan for the Care of Coffee will expand our ability to build a resistant coffee production and ensure a better future for Mexican smallholder coffee farmers,” according to SAGARPA, Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Rural Development and Food.
