Sometimes it may feel like the small farmer is always losing in the modern market, where multinational corporations dominate and profit trumps all. But once in awhile, we find people working actively to make a positive change in the way goods are exchanged. People who care if farmers have enough money to buy food, provide for their families, and send their children to school.
Travel to the heart of Burundi’s coffee hills, and you will find one such example: The Long Miles Coffee Project. The LMCP was started by the Carlsons, an American family of four, who built their own coffee washing station and continue to reside in Burundi. Their goal is to deliver Burundi’s unique coffee to the world while ensuring that the farmers who grow it are paid fairly for their work.
The Long Miles Coffee Project also has a goal of “knowing the story of our coffee growers,” and their website highlights some of the farmers who grow the coffee. These stories, accompanied by striking photos, bring extraordinary insight into the lives of those who grow Burundi’s coffee. There you can learn the farmers’ names, how many trees they own, how many children they have, how long they walk to deliver their coffee cherries, and how much money in USD they earn per season. Knowing the farmers helps the Long Miles Coffee Project implement farmer care projects, like purchasing a fleet of bikes and setting up coffee collection points around the region so elderly farmers don’t have to walk so far to deliver their coffee.
The Long Miles Coffee Project also has a blog, which details their life in Burundi and updates readers on where to buy the coffee in the United States. Read their description of Burundi’s coffee and you will salivate. They call it the “Cinderella of the coffee world” because though Burundi has been producing coffee since the 1960’s, its richness has been lost in commodity coffee, meaning it was blended into instant and grocery store blends.
The Long Miles Coffee Project is bringing Burundi’s coffee to the center stage of the ever-expanding coffee market. But more importantly, they are fostering the relationship between growers and roasters, looking out for the livelihoods of the farmers, and striving to know the farmers as individuals. Look for their trust mark on retail coffee and find out more at Long Miles Coffee Project.
