The speculative, worldwide, coffee market creates boom and bust cycles that wreak havoc in the lives of coffee farmers. The Rogers Family Company has taken a unique and compassionate approach to this problem.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, the price of coffee was at an all time low, causing many farmers to go out of business after their banks foreclosed on their land. Farms were left vacant and the coffee trees were left to die. Workers who depended on the farms left their families and migrated to overcrowded and polluted cities. While a few of the more conscientious coffee roasters occasionally threw a few cents at the problem, most importers and roasters did nothing but enjoy high profit margins from contracts that were fixed to historically low, coffee commodity prices.

Rather than take advantage of the situation, we negotiated fixed price contracts directly with farmers that guaranteed a profit for the farm. This way, the farmers could stay in business and workers could continue to earn a living near their homes and families. Today, coffee prices are on the rise, but our fixed contracts ensure long-term relationships and farm viability. This leads to well-tended coffee trees that produce only the very highest quality coffee beans.

When you see the Rogers Family “Fairly Traded” certificate on your coffee bag, you can be assured that this coffee was purchased with care and concern for coffee communities around the world.

Click here to learn about the difference between Rogers’s Family
“Fairly Traded” certificate and the TransFair organization’s “Fair Trade” certificate.