What is Direct Trade?

 

 

Hunter's Blend Coffee is sourced and roasted by Hemisphere Coffee Roasters, in central Ohio. They operate using principles of Direct Trade. So what is Direct Trade? Glad you asked. Direct Trade means:

- Buying directly from farmers, cutting out the traditional middlemen buyers and sellers. These middlemen include organizations that control certifications, such as Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance. Fair Trade caps each farmer to no more than 10% of their crop to be in the Fair Trade program, and a recent study suggested "the net benefit (of Fair Trade) to coffee farmers is as little as $22US/year."

- Providing pre-harvest funds to growers, keeping them away from high-interest bank loans.

- The ability to build mutually beneficial and respectful relationships with individual producers or cooperatives in the coffee-producing countries.

- More control over quality of coffee, social issues, and personal needs of the farmer or cooperative. 

- Many traditional-trade green coffee importers view the world much differently than we do, and would be inclined to support lobbyists that work against our hunting lifestyle.