Peru Alto Mayo

The Alto Mayo Agricultural Coffee Cooperative was founded on July 15, 2012. The proposal from an initial group of 15 was to combine their enthusiasm and ideologies to develop an organization that would differentiate themselves from other organisations in the area, and remove their reliance on intermediaries.

Their driving focus has been on improving quality, both of the cherry and of their working lives, with that of their families and communities too. It is through this they aim to be sustainable. This dual focus has enabled them to grow to 943 associated families across 43 production areas in the San Martin and Cajamarca regions.

The group mission now states ‘We develop cooperative education and are committed to promoting sustainable human development, both for the families associated with the cooperative and for their communities.’

In unison with a mix of NGO’s, they have renovated coffee plots, focussed on post-harvest management, management of solid waste, installed beneficios and reforested areas whilst training in the further care of the environment. Currently, they are focussing on Agrarian innovation to grow their reach and increase agricultural competitiveness.