| WorldPeaceEmerging.com Stories Coffee! How we love it! This interview with Arturo Segura, a Costa Rican coffee farmer, will take you deep into the lives of the people who grow our coffee. It is a look into the other side, those who feed us, who clothe us, who deliver to us the things we love and consider essential. It is a sad story filled with hope, and it is a story of struggle that becomes triumphant.
Arturo Segura grows his 'Sol Colibri' coffee organically in a region with 4000 conventional coffee farms, including his father's. Leaving tradition behind, he gathered a few recruits and bypassed green fruit buyers, roasters and even Fair Trade, to sell directly to stores in the U.S. His unprecedented system reaps his farmers a whopping $100 more per sack than any other coffee growers in the world. WPE spoke with him on Dec. 6, 2005.
WPE: How did Sol Colibri come about?
I started out as a farmer. In 1995 I took over a piece of land that belonged to a friend. He let me transition his place to organic, which is usually a three year process. In this case it took about 4 years because we were honest. After that the first buyer came by because somebody told him that I was growing organic. He gave me a price for the fruit and told me that as soon as we were ready to pick, to call him and he would come by with a truck. The day before I was going to pick I called the guy and said “two days, can you send a vehicle?" But he said “Don Arturo, we do not have a vehicle for you, and the price we offered you, we cannot pay because we think it is a little much.”
They had already certified our farm so we were hooked. Once somebody certifies your farm they basically have the right to your coffee. It’s exclusive, so I had to sell it to him, and I felt very violated and disrespected. He paid me part and I had to go to his place to get the rest. These people are in another region of Costa Rica, and they had a huge operation with tons of sacks of coffee and then a little stall for Organic coffee. Then I asked him for the money and he said “I do not even care about the environment and the trees or the people you are taking care of, I just care for the coffee. Here is your money, now leave."
With this group, Shelly, my wife and I produced 72 sacks that year and AFORCA all together had the same amount we did. I brought my father to some of the meetings. They went all day long. They were beginning to sell Fair Trade. Much of their funding had come from grants and blessings and good will, but it hadn’t come from their own mechanisms to sustain. The Swiss Embassy gave them a Silo; others gave them this, another group that, and my father said "that doesn’t work, you are subsidized, it’s not that you have a good business, it is simply that somebody is being good to you. When the guys are gone what do you do?"
In Latin America there are 18 coffee growing countries. Each one has a central Co-op that sells thousands of sacks of coffee to buyers who sell it to roasters, who then package it for stores. Why I think that the Co-op systems don’t work is that the best group in my country is earning $1.90- but when it gets to the farmer it goes down to $1.20. So the farmer is still in struggle, he is not making that much money. The way the money is being used, the way they are doing their thing doesn’t really work. I can pay far better than a Co-op because I function on different terms, as a private business. I am everything. I can run the whole show with a small amount of money. I can pay for gas, I can eat, I can be here in the states, I can fly back & forth and do all this incredible work.
On my end, I am attempting to bypass all middlemen and come directly to the stores with the coffee grown, roasted, processed and packaged in Costa Rica by the farmers. There is a farmer who was organic before I met him. He was being paid a ridiculously small amount of money and being mistreated. When he first saw me he turned away, he was scared to death. When he finally gave me his coffee, and I paid him half, he was so scared that I wouldn't pay the other half that I had to give him all the cash right then. Now he loves me, he thinks I am God.
This year there are seven farmers with me. Not only from my own village, that is the special thing, all across my region these farmers are in various places, becoming little humble lights that are very happy.
When I come to the states to sell to the stores, there is no middleman besides me. It's not that I am not making money, I'm not nonprofit. My farmers get about $100 more per sack. What is crazy is that if a Mexican group, or a Nicaraguan group does the same thing, they are going to get the $100 per sack. We have to spread the conversation. We can go to those places and give them the tools. If we can do it with 150 sacks, someone else can do it with 150 sacks. There are not many coffee countries, there are only 18. Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, El Salvatore, Brazil, Columbia, they all have umbrella organizations. Why is it they have never thought to roast the coffee and bring it over? I can tell you why, and you have to understand that this is a pretty difficult situation. The green buyers, the ones who buy 3-4000 sacks of green coffee beans and the roasters would never like that. The competition in the U.S. would be competing with the coop in Chiapas. I think the customer is going to go with Chiapas. Once the American roasters see the other groups, they will have to say "Maybe we'll do better at creating these new types of relationships."
What's curious is that with my (store) price at $7/lb. (middle of competition) everybody gets what they need, even I am getting something. And if at one point I start splitting it because there is more coffee being moved, I make less per pound. I can then give more money to the farmers. This is not what has been going on with Fair Trade. The price to a farmer hasn't changed in ten years, and the farmer is being paid in Mexican Pesos. What happens to a developing country when the price stays the same in the currency of your country? In ten years, the value went down 75%. Three groups that sell Fair Trade have disappeared in the last four years. If I were to say ok, we’ll sell Fair Trade - my farmers would have to pay. First they have to pay for a certification that says they are Fair Trade! An organized group of farmers is already in struggle, and having to pay for the Fair Trade certification is another problem. It’s another expensive fee that needs to be reevaluated. Some of these people should never have to pay; they have been Organic beyond forever. I pay my farmers in U.S. dollars, and every year I pay them more than the last, because they are getting paid in dollars. This is not simply business, it's a way of thinking. We are working to develop a new way of relationship not only to the land, not only to community, but to people in other places who buy our coffee. And by my way of thinking, unless we prosper these farmers, we are making a mistake. If I try to sustain one world by letting another suffer, I am making a mistake.
Four years ago I started with a bunch of roasters from Seattle, and do you know what they told me? "Farmer, leave your coffee at the border. We'll deal with the rest, my son. You don't come here to sell coffee." Go to a coop meeting in Nicaragua, and tell them that their dream to roast their own coffee can't happen, that someone else should do it for them, a middleman? Do you think that history is to always stay the way we are? I think that the world is waking up to many big issues. One of the biggest is the Free Trade Agreement because it's about sovereignty. The biggest issue we are dealing with in Latin America is sovereignty.
This may scare some of the big coffee companies. It won't really hurt their business, but it will scare them. It makes sense for us to roast our own. This talk of Fair Trade doesn't really skip the middlemen, it only skips part of them.
WPE:Tell us more about Sol Colibri.
If you buy from a roaster in Massachusetts, and they ship it to Seattle, its the same as shipping from Costa Rica. How long does it take to ship from Costa Rica? We roast on Monday, the coffee is here on Wednesday. I pick it up on Thursday and by Friday its in your hands. Grocers say that coffee is good for three months, some even say six. I can get it to you in less than a week. Whole Foods and other stores that are more about community have been my best buyers, they aren't looking for the Fair Trade sticker when they know they are supporting farmers directly.
All of our coffee is Certified Organic. We also are Certified BCS Childron, (the top Organic Certification in the world, German). The Organic Certification Childron is a cool thing, because the relationship I have with the BCS is very special. They are based in Costa Rica, they certify for all of Central America. For them, as for all the coffee organizations in Central America, everyone is surprised by what we are doing. It is very unusual. They are very strict and very expensive, but they want to support what we are doing. Everything is very clean. Don Jorge, the Director, sees us as incredible. Have you ever seen a Latin American farmer coming here to sell his coffee? That's why he wants to help us any way he can.
For next year, 2006, we have two more coming in to join us if they get certified. The people I work with are very strict, so it will depend on those two meeting the certification requirements. There are 15 people looking, but many people cannot handle it. If they do not want to go organic, I don’t know how many will make it of 15 checking us out right now. The opportunity is available. I am paying almost 100% more than the town is getting and this is a good coffee town. It’s a huge deal. I am a big thorn. Because I am inviting people to think differently, and I am paying them money far beyond the others. I cruise around the community, speaking my concepts and saying "Man, don’t you see what you guys are doing?”
These days I am away more than I was. But I am raising the conversation. There are two universities working with me, coming to my community to create a model for ecotourism, through the instrument of coffee. It is a big thing in history for Latin America, nothing exists like this model and eco tourism is dangerous. Eco tourism is not for the people of the place unless we prepare, we train, we learn, and we don’t sell the land!
WPE: Explain to us your vision.
I want my people to learn the concept of what it is to be a farmer today in a global world, to bring them awareness of issues that might be far away from them, but are important to understand. For instance, I went to the Audubon Society, everybody here (U.S.) knows about Audubon and Shade Grown Coffee. I asked them for a brochure in Spanish for the farmers, and they said they didn't even have one. The story is there for the Americans, but not for the very people doing the work!
I want to educate my friends that there is a world out there that is willing to pay more. I want to teach them to be self-sufficient because things are going to get scarce; resources all over the world are disappearing. I'm raising their understanding through a product, but it's not about coffee, it's about life and the ultimate reason we are here. I get together with my friends and we talk about these things, we understand that we are doing this for the greater good.
The energy of money! There are people who say that money is an energy, a given beautiful energy that, going in the right direction, is as powerful as prayer.
Five hundred years. Its about resources from developing countries throughout history. Its about balance. The rich countries must realize that your food consumption is too much. We are destroying our places to feed you! Part of the balance is that you've got to learn to live simpler, learn to live like we do because this will save us all. When we invest in the right things, when we create relationships that honor everything, there is a price to pay. We have paid the price and now we are waking up.
It's our sovereignty; it's our resources throughout history that have made everyone rich but us. Once you begin a conversation about balance and justice, you enter into a spiritual experience. When you enter into that level, you see the world differently.
I know that the money will not resolve all the problems in my community and in my region. But it is starting to resolve one that is the most basic- they are living an experience that they feel very proud of. And they are very strong in community, they feel solid, they feel good, they are going for the next year. They are already looking forward to being certified, they are making money and never thought that a guy would come around and pay them in U.S. dollars, never heard of in all of history.
The farmers are beginning to participate. I am creating a conversation. All I can do by blessing the people with the money is to attract more. And I am going to attract weird people- somebody’s going to come just for the money- no soul and no spirit. I already have been in a position where a guy came around who was all about abusing me. You know what I felt when I found that out? I am living this for a greater good and all that, I realize that here is the first guy that is just coming for the money. So I have to keep on filtering. I’m not going to do it for anybody that is a big farmer, only small farmers. I am going to keep on processing and bringing in people that really need it. I am going to bless them any way I can. I’m going to teach them that there is a way to do things that we can embrace. It requires a different level of organization where the first thing is “Lets Pray Together”. But still let’s be good businessmen, that’s the deal. I’m not the best, but at least I try to manage the money with honor.
I am very blessed. This car is someone’s loan, the storage is free, and there are people that love me. There have been people that have given me hundreds of dollars in one day saying “ We believe in you.”
If you have something that can create a little shift toward this place that we are all dreaming of- It’s important to let it be known, and not just put it in the same bed to rest. It had to be differentiated that’s why we have Fair Trade today, right?
Unless I can create a way that they can make the money they deserve, they are going to stay in the horrible system we have today. I had to create a venue in my region. To my understanding I am creating a better alternative. Is it for everybody? It’s so much work!
There are already people questioning it. There’s room for me while I am the only one. I’ve started finding it slowly through a process. It has been a slow process of meeting the right people, to bring it about. Do you know what it takes? I mean could you imagine any farmer from Mexico, even a head of an organization, coming here to Seattle and living? But there are communities capable of doing it, the most organized ones. The thing is, it doesn’t even go through their heads! Nobody would tell them what’s here, not even the most kind hearted roaster today is going to tell them “you know you could roast and send it from Mexico. It would only take three days by truck from Mexico to Seattle". When I am holding more money, I’ll go everywhere. Whatever I can do to give the tools to these people because I understand it is about giving tools.
Chocolate is another one of those products that people grab very easily, and it is a resource for Latin America. It is there in Nicaragua, Ecuador and also in Africa. This is what I am thinking with the chocolate, we’ll sell it under Sol Colibri because you cannot have it under 100 names of 100 groups. Or give it another name, I don’t know. All I know is that it is my dream to see a chocolate bar made by the very people that have grown the cocoa beans. It is the only way to bring real justice to this, from my feelings and the way I look at it. And I might be wrong.
T0 contact Arturo Segura or purchase Sol Colibri coffee email solcolibri@yahoo.com
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