Level Ground Trading is a Direct Fair Trade company located in Victoria, BC Canada. Their mission is to trade fairly and directly with small-scale farmers in an effort to alleviate poverty through direct fair trade. They promote sustainability and well-being through long-term trade relationships where fair prices are paid and premiums are invested in producer communities for capacity building. They are not just importing coffee, but also tea, dried fruit, cane sugar, vanilla, heirloom rice and spices.
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA They make sure to send nothing to landfill, pay staff to bike, bus or carpool to work and reclaim empty packaging. Together, their aim is building a food system focused on sustainability and well-being.
ANDES, COLUMBIA They work in Columbia with Cooperativa delos Andes and they have been a great group in order to help them buy coffee from specific farmers in specific regions so that they can stay directly connected to the communities they feel their coffee buying makes the biggest impact.
MHEYA, TANZANIA Level Ground trades with Coffee Management Services (CMS) in Tanzania. CMS operates the HOPE Organic Project, where farmers are paid a fair price for red cherries collected at stations called Central Pulpery Units. Once collected, CMS then mills, sorts and transports the coffee for export.
Level Ground’s Direct Fair Trade premiums help fund healthcare for farmers and their families. Premiums also help fund the HOPE Projects' training in organic farming methods as well as soil and shade conservation.
NORTH KIVU, D.R. CONGO This coffee is grown by small-scale farmers in the eastern part of D.R. Congo, near Lake Edward and north of Lake Kivu. Virunga Coffee Company operates six washing stations throughout the province of North Kivu. Farmers bring ripe coffee cherries to one of the washing stations and are paid in cash for their harvest.
CARAVANI, BOLIVIA We work with a group called Agricafe who work with 400 small-scale farmers in the Los Yungas region to purchase fresh-picked coffee cherries. We have traded with Agricafe since 2002 and appreciate their careful attention to post-harvest processing and quality
PANGOA, PERU Pangoa is a long established co-operative with 680 farmer members who grow coffee, cacao and also produce honey. The organic coffee we purchase from CAC Pangoa is grown by the Machiguenga First Nation people.
SIDAMA, ETHIOPIA We purchase coffee from the Fero Co-op of the Sidama Coffee Farmers’ Union. The co-op has approximately 3000 member farmers.
Coffee is the primary source of income for members of Fero Co-op. Farmers receive great prices for their coffee because it is considered among the best in the world.