What We Do

We are architects collaborating with our partners to build a food secure future for coffee farming communities. Food Security means that all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to culturally appropriate food to meet their dietary needs for a productive and healthy life.

Even though our Community Partners produce fair trade, organic-certified coffees, most families have insufficient land to produce enough coffee to achieve an adequate livelihood. Green coffee prices have been hovering around $1.00 a pound, dropping 29% since 2010, while food prices have skyrocketed, climbing anywhere from 41% to 67% during the same period in the countries where we work. Most smallholder coffee farms are less than 12 acres and produce less than 6,000 lb of green coffee a year, leaving families to live on less than $6,000 a year.

The challenges our Community Partners face are the direct cause of their food insecurity. According to the USDA, food insecurity means that a family has a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. Many of these challenges are not only complex, but they are completely out of our Community Partners’ control or ability to change. A volatile market, low coffee prices, high food prices, lack of diversified crops, limited opportunities, and the devastating effects of climate change have left them struggling to put food on the table, year after year. At the same time, a flood of cheap, nutrient-deficient, calorie-rich food has created local food deserts, leaving many farming families more malnourished than ever. We believe that every family should have enough nutritious food every day.

We collaborate with coffee-farming communities to customize strategies and develop activities that reflect their changing needs and priorities and to ensure they have the tools and resources they need to independently manage their challenges over time. To address the systemic challenges at the heart of food insecurity, we use the power of collaboration with coffee farming communities. Food 4 Farmers supports our Community Partners in managing and measuring their progress, while ensuring they have the necessary tools and resources. We connect them with local organizations, who we call Implementing Partners, that have extensive regional knowledge and can provide ongoing support for our Community Partners.

From the diagnosis of an appropriate strategy to activity management, monitoring and evaluation, to ultimately creating new business ventures, we work alongside our Community Partners to ensure they can take control of food security in their communities. While our focus is on food security and livelihoods, we understand that challenges vary from community to community, and from family to family. Each solution is customized to fit their needs and goals. Every aspect of our work focuses on building our Community Partner’s ability to develop, manage, and improve family food security and livelihoods on their own, over time. Then, we support them in managing and measuring their progress, while ensuring they have the necessary tools and resources through Implementing Partners, coordinators, and promoters.