Starbucks : Invests in Next Generation of Colombian Coffee Farmers

In partnership with the United States Agency for International Development, Starbucks will provide skills training and technological tools to 1,000 young coffee farmers in Colombia's post-conflict zones

Starbucks will contribute $2 million to a farmer loan program focused on smallholder women coffee farmers in collaboration with Inter-American Development Bank

Strategic investments build on Starbucks comprehensive approach to ethical sourcing and advancing efforts to make coffee the world's first sustainable agricultural product

Medellín, COLOMBIA (July 10, 2017) - Building on four decades of sourcing, roasting and serving Colombian coffee worldwide, Starbucks today announced that it will increase its investments in agronomy and technology training to support the next generation of Colombian coffee farmers. Through a new smallholder farmer loan initiative with the Inter-American Developmental Bank (IDB) directed toward a women-led coffee cooperative, and an expanded partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at helping young coffee farmers in post-conflict zones build greater resiliency and expertise, Starbucks will help create opportunities in some of Colombia's most vulnerable coffee growing communities.

Both of these partnerships will advance the work of the Starbucks Farmer Support Center in Manizales, which the company opened in 2012 to help connect farmers with trained agronomists and technical assistance, and expand its C.A.F.E. Practices program, which is Starbucks third-party verified sustainability program developed with Conservation International more than 15 years ago. Each of these initiatives are part of the company's comprehensive approach to ethical sourcing, an open-sourced program supporting industry efforts to make coffee the world's first sustainable agricultural product and improve the lives of millions of coffee farmers, families and workers around the world.

'While we have always worked with the Colombian coffee community to ensure access to the right tools and information they need to maintain and grow successful businesses, there is a significant opportunity to support the next generation of coffee farmers in new ways,' said Kelly Goodejohn, director for Starbucks ethical sourcing programs. 'By partnering with organizations like USAID and IDB, as well the Colombian government and the FNC, we can be even more intentional about ensuring that young men and women get more advanced technology and financial assistance to create a future for their families for generations to come'

'We support efforts like those that Starbucks is making in Colombia to work with farmers to advance sustainability, especially in post-conflict areas that need it most,' said Roberto Vélez, CEO of the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation. 'Starbucks efforts to work with young farmers complements the work of the FNC and allows us to scale our impact and reach for generations to come.'

From Conflict to Prosperity: Supporting Young Coffee Farmers in Post-Conflict Zones

Coffee farmers in Colombia faced challenges maintaining their crops during the country's 50-year civil conflict, and the Colombian government, its people and the international community are working together to provide more opportunities to communities impacted the most, and help farmers focus on coffee quality.

Starbucks and USAID, through the U.S. Embassy in Colombia, have a common goal to bring economic stability to those coffee growing communities. Since forming a public-private partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2013 with a $1.5 million investment, Starbucks has helped positively impact 20,000 farmers and expanded the collaborative program to the Tolima, Cauca, Valle and Antioquia growing regions to benefit up to 10,000 more coffee farmers. In Colombia's North Cauca region, agronomists at the Farmer Support Center have expanded C.A.F.E. Practices to more than 1,200 indigenous coffee growers.

By extending this USAID Global Development Alliance (GDA) grant by an additional $519,000 for one more year, Starbucks will focus its support on:

• Engaging 1,000 young coffee farmers in the country's post-conflict zones across Cauca and Tolima
• Offering technical assistance, agricultural training, and access to improved technologies such as laptops to help run their businesses.
• The development of three native tree nurseries, benefiting at least 150 coffee farmers and indirectly about 1,000 people in communities across Caldas, Huila, and Cauca, through reforestation and climate resiliency programs

New Farmer Loan Program to Empower More Women Coffee Farmers in Colombia

Starbucks is also working with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to contribute to the economic and social empowerment of 2,000 women-led smallholder coffee growers in the Colombian departments (states) of Antioquia and Chocó.

This $4 million farmer loan project will include a contribution of $2 million from Starbucks Global Farmer Loan Fund (which has a commitment to distribute $50 million in farmer loans worldwide by 2020), and up to $2 million from IDB through its Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).

'Climate change is real for these women and the farmers from the Andes region. In order to face this challenge and become more resilient, strategic investments need to happen at the farm level,' said Alejandro Escobar, Lead Operations and Investment Officer for the IDB. 'This loan program implemented with Cooperandes and in collaboration with Starbucks, will enable these women farmers to invest in their coffee farms, thus making them more productive and improving their livelihoods for the long term.'

This program will establish:

• A system for the members of the Cooperandes co-op, most whom are women, to access financing needed to enhance coffee yields and quality among member producers.
• An opportunity to provide short and long term assistance through a unique financing model that provides low-risk loans to farmers for renovation, with complementary technical assistance being provided.
• This innovative approach to financing brings together multiple actors within the supply chain from the supplier (COEX), the cooperative (Cooperandes) and Starbucks, who not only provides counterpart financing for the loan, but will also guarantee market access for the loan recipients, through its C.A.F.E. Practices methodology.

Starbucks Global Commitment to Ethical Sourcing

To date, Starbucks investments in coffee farming communities, with the goal of having impact on the lives of more than one million farmers, families and workers includes:

• Ethical Sourcing Standard: 99% of coffee sourced by Starbucks has been verified as ethically sourced through its C.A.F.E. Practices standards developed with Conservation International more than a decade ago.
• Healthy Coffee Trees: The donation of enough funds to plant 30 million rust-resistant coffee trees with the first phase of distribution including 10 million healthy coffee trees sent to farmers in need across El Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico. More than 6,200 farming families received new coffee trees helping to rehabilitate more than 2,500 hectares of farmland and nearly 800 temporary jobs were created to support the initial distribution.
• Farmer Financing: Committing $50M in affordable credit for coffee farmers and cooperatives by 2020 so that farmers can reinvest in their farms.
• Agronomy Support: Investing $20 million in open-source agronomy through a network of eight Farmer Support Centers to train 200,000 coffee farmers by 2020, leveraging the research at Hacienda Alsacia, Starbucks global agronomy center in Costa Rica.
• Sustainable Coffee Challenge: Founding member of The Sustainable Coffee Challenge alongside a growing coalition of industry leaders of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge, a call to action led by Conservation International to make coffee the world's first sustainable agricultural product.

About Starbucks

Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality arabica coffee. Today, with more than 25,000 stores around the globe, Starbucks is the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer through every cup. To share in the experience, please visit our stores or online at news.starbucks.com and Starbucks.com.

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