Volcano coffee in Peru is grown by the farmers of the ACPC Pichanaki Cooperative.
Since 2014, the ACPC Cooperative have been growing the beans for our house Fullsteam Espresso and The Mount Blend coffees. In four years we have bought 2,717 sacks of coffee from the Cooperative - that's nearly 190 tonnes!
The ACPC Cooperative is an organisation of coffee producers set up in May 2000. They provide technical assistance and training services to a group of some 330 producers in Junín, Central Peru.
ACPC was set up with ambitions to sell the coffee produced by its members under better conditions without intermediaries, and to provide production and technical assistance back to the producers in order to raise quality levels.
We strongly support the organisation's commitment to improving its coffee quality and production, while also improving members’ quality of life through social projects, food security and women empowerment.
The cost of coffee production in Peru is very high, due mostly to the high labour costs. In response we've seen some farmers abandoning coffee to grow other crops.
Our response? We offer a fixed-price model for buying coffee from ACPCP that is not linked to the market value. This incentivises members to keep their coffee crops and gives them a fair price for their produce.
The profit from their sales has assisted in the building of the Cooperative's offices, with more security and facilities for the community to use. The site has a cafe which employs teenagers from nearby farms.
ACPC are also building beehives across farms to supplement farmers' income with honey and to proliferate bee populations in the area.
WHAT'S NEXT FOR VOLCANO COFFEE IN PERU?
We sent Volcano's Head of Product, Nick, and Head of Roasting, James, to visit the farmers of the ACPC Pichanaki Cooperative, to find out what's next.
MEET THE TOWN OF COFFEE FARMERS IN JOSE GALVEZ, PERU
José Gálvez is a community of 86 families, 67 of who rely solely on coffee for their income. We started buying their coffee through the ACPC Cooperative in Peru in 2018.
