Aprocassi is a cooperative with 600 active members distributed around 37 collection bases in the provinces of San Ignacio and Jaen, Cajamarca department. The member farms cover a wide altitude range from 1,000 masl to 2,500 masl, supporting the production of a wide range of qualities.
The cooperative has a strong focus on the social and environmental development of the communities where they buy coffee. This goes back to 1997 when San Ignacio families opposed the establishment of a Canadian mining company in the area.
Back then, Sulliden Mining Capital had been granted a concession to extract gold and silver in an area of 8,000 hectares, encompassing 24 villages surrounding the Huaquillas mountain. This was shortly after a chemical accident involving Sulliden, which made farmers fear the company’s impact on the environment.
Local protestors were supported by farmers and the Catholic church. Both groups wanted a more sustainable future for the community. It was reverend Humberto Tapia Días, a parish priest, who created an association to provide a sustainable alternative for the area's economy based on organic agriculture.
After many protests, Sulliden abandoned the project and left. The company was, however, one of many mining businesses in the region. These are known to generate social and labour issues in Cajamarca until this day.
Aprocassi was born in March 2000 on the back of the victory against Sulliden. It became a cooperative formally only in 2010. Today, the cooperative structures itself around the principle of “Family as a pillar of growth”, coming from the strong belief in the family as an unbreakable bond and unit of cooperation.
Aprocassi became Fairtrade certified in 2001 and has invested premiums in quality, by building two cupping labs and training members on QC, and the environment, by renovating old coffee plots and promoting reforestation and beekeeping for honey production.
Other than the adoption of better agroforestry practices, Aprocassi is also conducting a carbon footprint pilot study with 51 of our organic and conventional coffee-producing families. We want to analyse the life cycles of our production (from farm to port of shipment) and make our production models more sustainable to reduce carbon emissions.
Another project worth mentioning is Manos Fortes (Strong Hands). These are workshops in Leadership and Entrepreneurship to educate local leaders. Members learn about management, business processes, knowledge and interpretation of financial statements.
Santa Fe is one of five regional blends created by Aprocassi. It’s also its highest quality lot, offering great consistency from year to year. It’s a coffee suitable for both espresso and pour-over.
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