Finding Focus In Sustainability Efforts To Empower Farmers

Sustainability is an overused term in our world. To some, it’s narrowly defined as “green” or efforts with an environmental component. To others, it’s a measure of profitability. Sadly, to others it’s merely a marketing term used to appeal to customers yet no real changes happen within the business.

At THRIVE Farmers, we believe that “sustainability” means doing business right. Business that is right for real people–Right for our partners, right for our customers, right for our employees and for our shareholders—and business that is right for the planet.

The good news is the marketplace increasingly agrees with us. Customers are demanding a new order for business operations to ensure a better future for all. We are very fortunate at THRIVE to be part of this modern-day revolution.

However, as with any movement, there are plenty of marketing efforts and flashy language that can distract from the true mission of sustainability. We collectively must separate fact from rhetoric by tangibly aligning our efforts with all stakeholders in the value chain, and especially with those at the base of the supply chain itself.

Empowering producers with economic sustainability creates a multiplier effect that thereby creates opportunity to transform every other facet of sustainability. If producers can barely provide for their families, there remains little hope that they can invest in the types of environmental best practices that the developed world has adopted in our state of prosperity.

Beginning sustainability efforts at the human level is the gateway to holistic sustainability from bottom to top of the supply chain. This starts with who. Who does sustainability benefit?

The Faces of Sustainable Efforts

The beneficiaries are real people with families all around the world. In our business, it is Byron Corrales in Nicaragua, Eliezar Satantos in Guatemala, and Efrain Mendez in Costa Rica—among thousands of others who rely on agriculture as a family staple. It is why our messaging shares their stories and our logo represents their likeness. We maintain our mission through the constant reminder that our actions are helping our global community by working with real families.

Our mission at THRIVE Farmers is to empower farmers to thrive. That begins with giving them the opportunity to share in more of the profits. In other words, it begins with economic sustainability. By disconnecting farmers from the volatile commodity market price, we streamline the connection to their markets, allowing them to remain stakeholders in their product until it is sold. This offers farmers much-needed consistency including predictable and higher prices and a stable market structure, which is invaluable in the tumultuous agriculture industry.

By creating a close connection between farmers, their crops, and consumers, customers are provided with a guaranteed promise: with every cup of THRIVE Farmers coffee, they are making an intentional decision to impact a farmer’s financial prosperity.

Promising Sustainability To Consumers

Sustainability is not and should never be a commerce ploy to lure a consumer. To us, it is a promise that we will align the reward for the hard work of our supply chain partners with the consumer’s desire for an excellent, affordable product that truly makes a the world better. By connecting farmers in the direct-to-consumer market, we enable them to further expand their crops, improve their products, and ultimately invest in the transformation of their families, businesses, and communities. It is the difference between a transaction and a meaningful relationship.

We yearn for a universal acceptance of a vision where farmers know that their product is enhancing a consumer’s life by providing sustenance and flavor. Likewise, we want our customer to have a clear understanding of how their money is strengthening our global economy on a personal level. That is a truly sustainable system which benefits everyone.

 Eradicating Family Poverty

We know that overcoming poverty is more than just a resource issue, but takes a shift in worldview through empowerment. By radically changing an unscrupulous supply chain and making the producer a business partner, farmers have both the dignity and the resources to put an end to poverty at its root. We have seen the personal accounts of farmer transformation. For example, Vinicio Gonzalez in Guatemala built his first home outside of his mother’s at the age of 52 and now is paying for his two daughters to attend college, all made possible because of the proceeds of his coffee sales.

While our farmers’ resources and circumstances depict the success of the revitalized direct model, nothing expresses unfiltered sustainability like the smiles on their faces. In its sincerest form, sustainability is proven hope that a family’s future will be more stable and robust than their past.

That leaves every one of us with a choice. We must consume wisely and intentionally. Our daily purchase decisions can promote beautiful and authentic sustainability while also preventing global poverty for future families.