Meeting Members: Over a cup of coffee with Cooxupé

Cooperativism has sustainability at its core, which has been part of Cooxupé’s history since its foundation (91 years ago) in the town of Guaxupé, Minas Gerais state, in Brazil. This is to ensure a better future for the more than 19 thousand cooperative members, in addition to having the quality and origin of the coffee produced increasingly recognized in the face of market and consumer demands. Cooxupé´s mission is to “promote the sustainable development of its members”, guaranteeing him/her access to market, credit, inputs, specialized technical assistance and other services that cater to both small/family farmers and large producers.

All this work resulted in the implementation of a program that helps the cooperative’s members in times of change, considering current demands and future ones: GERAÇÕES Sustainability Protocol. The protocol defines guidelines and levels for the cooperative and its members to be integrated into the new reality that coffee quality and longevity of the activity are deeply linked to an economically sustainable production system that is in harmony with the environment and with producers, their families and employees.

Protocol

Based on this protocol, Cooxupé and its members have been adopting best practices to ensure resilience, in addition to improving working conditions on the properties and, thus, producing sustainable coffee from a social, ethical and environmental point of view. “Most of our cooperative members are family farmers, so our biggest challenge is for everyone to join this inclusive program to benefit from greater market competitiveness and to produce a coffee that meets the needs of the consumer of the future,” explains Carlos Augusto Rodrigues de Melo, president of Cooxupé.

“Producers are aware of and accepting our protocol very well. It is an inclusive, transparent and very representative program, as it has cooperativism at its core. However, to cover the other sustainability pillars, it will be necessary to involve all other segments of the chain. And, in this sense, we are very optimistic,” says Luiz Fernando dos Reis, commercial superintendent of the cooperative.

Cooxupé

The partnership with the Global Coffee Platform, which is a renowned institution in the coffee market, recognized and trusted by our clients, contributes with new perspectives and actions, especially in sustainability. The next step is to obtain the equivalence of the Gerações Protocol with GCP requirements to further ensure market recognition as suppliers of sustainable coffees.

“GCP is a reference of sustainability. The goal is to offer sustainable coffees to clients who are part of the platform. By following these requirements, we will be able to expand access to an increasingly demanding market”, says Alexandre Monteiro, ESG manager at Cooxupé.