APCO co-op, Colombia

Ocamonte is a small municipality in Santander, a Colombian state about 300 kilometres north-east of the capital, Bogotá. Here, 270 coffee-growing families have grouped together and formed the cooperative Asociación Pequeños Caficultores de Ocamonte (APCO). In contrast to Mexico, Colombia doesn’t have a strong tradition of organic coffee growing, so only about half of the co-op’s members are organic certified.

However, they are mid-transition to fully certified organic coffee production. The transition to organic certification takes three years and requires a lot of extra work, money and resources, yet the premium paid for organic coffee doesn’t reflect the extra work and money needed to produce it. As more and more consumers want organic coffee, producers will need to keep up with demand, and should be recompensed accordingly.

As with many other Central American coffee-producing countries, Colombia has a problem with Ojo De Gallo (leaf rust) and has developed its own coffee variety, Castillo, which is more resistant to it, increasing the 2010 harvest by 30% nationally.

This work was commissioned by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC): as Colombia’s second-largest export after petroleum, coffee accounts for a large part of their income, and a lot of work is done at a government level to ensure a continued supply of quality coffee.

The FNC has even created a brand, Juan Valdez (a fictional character), to market Colombian coffee to the world.