Dominican Republic Trip Report
Posted by mikemoon at about 3pm on Thursday January 7, 2010Early in December (09) I traveled to the Dominican Republic to visit coffee farmers whose coffee we roast, to get to know their cooperatives and learn about coffee from the Dominican Republic.
The trip was part of USAID's 'farmer to farmer' program, though in this case 'roaster to farmer' is more appropriate.
Also on the trip were other roaster members of Cooperative Coffees, Craig Hall from Equator Coffee in Ottawa, Ontario and Dan Bailey and Jeremey Claeys from Amavida Coffee in Seaside, Florida.
We were hosted in the Dominican Republic by FEDECARES (Feceracion de Caficultores de la Region Sur [Federation of coffee growers in the southern region]) which is an 'umbrella cooperative' that facilitates export and quality control of coffee and development of the grower cooperatives. FEDECARES was represented by the energetic and able Marie Isabel who has been working in coffee and fair trade in the Dominican Republic for years and knows the regions and farmers very well.
