What is Farm Identified?
Our Farm Identified program began in 1992, with our Stewardship® Program. Even then, it was clear to us that knowing our suppliers is the fundamental first step to creating sustainability in our supply chain. When we know who produces our coffee, we are closer to knowing how they produce it.
We sought out estates and cooperatives that produced coffee of the highest quality and that wanted to pursue best practices on their path to sustainability. Our Farm Identified program has remained a cornerstone of our sourcing strategy. Through it, we are able to ensure high-quality coffee for our consumers and customers, as we weather shifts in the market that might otherwise compromise quality. As the market price for coffee declines, the quality of conventionally sourced coffee often declines. Relationships with particular farms enable us maintain our standards. And since we are willing to pay more for this quality, the farms benefit as well.
Our Farm Identified program enables us to know which farm grew our coffee, and we specify it on the purchase contract with our importer. We generally pay a higher price for Farm Identified coffees than the producers would get in a conventional sourcing relationship, because we can expect the high quality to remain consistent, assurance not generally found in an anonymous relationship. We work with our Farm Identified suppliers to connect them more effectively to the marketplace and assist them as they work toward sustainability. For example, our Farm Identification might serve as an incubator, providing a coffee-producing organization with the support and stability it needs to transition to organic production or to achieve Fair Trade certification. Or we might provide funding for community-originated improvement projects. Our relationship may include visits to farms, farmer visits to Waterbury, and grants from our Brewing A Better World Fund to support long-term projects in pursuit of social and environmental sustainability.
Our Farm Identified program is not audited by third parties. We don’t have any quantitative goal for our Farm Identified program, but we have found it to be an essential tool for responding to shifts in the market, valuable for farmers, and an assurance of quality for our customers and consumers. Our Farm Identified program is an alternative to conventional sourcing through the anonymous commodity market, and it represents our overall commitment to working with our supply chain partners, and not simply buying from them.
“What we’d heard about America was mainly violence and cowboys but we experienced something completely different. Particularly in Vermont there was a gathering and we very quickly felt a tremendous rapport with the people.”
Mohammed Salim
PPKGO Cooperative, Indonesia