Colombian Coffee with a natural and feminine touch

ORIGINAL: IUCN

13 September 2012

Luz Marina Restrepo, Colombian coffee farmer. Photo: IUCN

Nespresso works with 50,000 farmers in their AAA Sustainable Quality Programme, which accounts for 200,000 hectares. Luz Marina Restrepo is one of them. This Colombian coffee farmer from Cafe Export came to the Congress to express her feelings about the programme, and language was never a barrier!

Coffee farmers. Photo: Nesspreso

Many eyes were on her, but she stood still, spoke clearly and did not stop smiling while she said: “The AAA programme has provided me with knowledge on the activities that must be done on a farm to achieve good coffee production.”

She owns four hectares, in which forest areas are conserved to protect the water source that benefits 36 families.

“For us, nature is what matters. Since taking part in the training my farm has changed 100%, because I am more diligent, I understand the importance of environment, do not use toxic chemicals, and pay full attention to the high quality standards in the coffee processing.”

Luz Marina Restrepo won the best practice award for Sustainable AAA farming and the opportunity to go to New York to receive recognition. She remembers how Nespresso started in Anserma with only 100 families and how it has grown up to 432 families, with many more expecting to enter soon.

For her, the main obstacle to enter to the programme is the lack of technology for water treatment. Some of the changes she has seen on her farm after joining the programme include not contaminating the water or burning soil, and they take care of local species.

Luz Marina Restrepo

At the IUCN World Conservation Congress we’ve heard from NGOs, businesses, suppliers, institutes. But it's rare that we have the opportunity to hear from the people on the ground, those who are implementing the biodiversity management practices that we discuss at length on a daily basis.

Nespresso were thrilled to introduce Luz Marina Restrepo, a coffee farmer from Anserma, Colombia and a sustainability innovator. She’s a shining example of conservation in action; her experience can teach us valuable lessons.

When asked about the main obstacles in putting biodiversity and conservation into practice she answered (with the help of a translator):

“Accessibility of technology to implement practices – for example septic tanks to process polluted water, and getting the right advice to learn how to take care of farm management.”

Within the Nespresso AAA programm especifically, she has learnt a great deal:

“How to avoid contamination from waste water, which practices to avoid, like burning soil, and how to take care of the species on my farm.”

With the help of agronomists she is learning more every day about the importance of environmental protection. And new technology is helping the spread of learnings across the whole farmer network.

Its not always so straightforward though. Mohammad Rafiq from the Rainforest Alliance recognises that farmers often need to be convinced of the returns from sustainability implementation. In his opinion demonstrating the benefits of access to resources and access to market is easier when productivity and quality expertise are combined with sustainability know-how. It seems this is the key to the success of the Nespresso AAA/Rainforest Alliance approach.

Coffee grains. Photo: Nesspreso

A new dimension that has come into play for Rainforest Alliance in recent years is climate change, and it’s not just them and the businesses they work with that are pushing for positive action. Farmers are so engaged that they are voluntarily adopting standards which help to reduce their carbon footprint. Nespresso are among the first to source coffee from Guatemala where the climate change module is being put into practice.

Luz Marina was very concerned that everyone should try a coffee, including Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General!