Fair Trade Organic Peru Bosque Y Agua

Founded in 2012 Bosque y Agua is home to 212 individual producers, 27 of whom are women. In recent years they have funded a number of coop initiatives for their members such as the construction of their centralized collection center and solar drying beds, renovation of wash stations and fermentation tanks, rehabilitation of members’ coffee growing regions and investment in pruning kits and organic fertilizers. As a cooperative of Fair Trade Organic Peruvian coffee producers, Bosque y Agua is part of large export industry in Peru that is responsible for over 30,000 tons of organic certified green coffee each year. The region has an excellent sub-tropical climate, fertile soil and a mild rainy season that make it well suited for arabica production.

Peru contains nearly 220,000 acres of organic coffee farms, the majority of which use natural shade at high elevations in the northern portion of the nation’s Andes. Many of Peru’s farmers have been using natural shade and other generations-old, essentially “organic” techniques for years, and long ago made the determination that organic certification offered them the best potential income compared to neighboring, non-organic regions. Cooperative operations are common in Peru, where many farmers own small plots of land where they grow their arabica varieties. As organic farming and certification became more common, many small farmers opted in to regional cooperatives to share in the benefits of collectively producing certified Fair Trade Organic Peruvian coffee.

A majority of Peruvian farms use natural shade to promote healthy ecosystems and preserve indigenous forests by providing sanctuary for local bird populations. In turn the bird populations help control pests and insects, and help farmers avoid a reliance on chemicals and pesticides. Organic standards of course require all fertilizers and composts to be organic in nature, which goes hand-in-hand with Peru’s (and many other nation’s) traditional growing methods such as natural shade and the recycling of coffee pulp, mulch and manure for compost. Overall coffee is Peru’s largest agricultural export, making them the world’s ninth largest producer of non-organic arabica.