HOW would you like to meet the coffee farmer who produced the beans for your morning cup of joe?

Dick Nagtegaal of Relationship Coffee Company, a Cowichan Bay based non-profit, dreams that one day African coffee farmers who grow the beans he imports will share their stories in Canada.  

“Imagine that the person who grows the coffee comes to church and talks about the coffee you’ve been drinking,” said Nagtegaal, a former biologist with a dream of working in Africa, and an obvious passion for the project.  

After approaching Christian Reformed World Relief Committee about volunteering his skills, they connected him with coffee farmers in Northern Uganda.

“It was an answer to prayer,” Nagtegaal said.

Over the last two years, they have developed a new model – which puts people before profits.

“The farmers had been thinking about approaches and possibilities for years,” Nagtegaal explained. “Then I came along, and was fortunate enough to be part of it.”

The Relationship Business Model they developed together encompasses some of the same principles as Fair Trade.

In both models, farmers have access to credit, there are no middlemen, and funds are accessible for infrastructure and community development projects. But Relationship Coffee provides a better than Fair Trade price.

“The farmers have the opportunity to become co-partners in the company here. This model provides them with a share of the income from farm gate to North American sales,” said Nagtegaal.

Farmers “are assured a sustainable income – instead of wondering, year to year, whether someone will pay for their beans. It’s a long term commitment. That’s why it’s a relationship.”

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Such partnerships allow farmers and their families to plan for the future – and to meet their nutrition, education and health needs without being adversely affected by fluctuations in global coffee prices.  

The Relationship Model is also empowering. “No North American oversees it and organizes it for them. They do it all themselves,” said Nagtegaal. The farmers are paid for each stage of the production and shipping process, in addition to the price paid for the beans.    

The success of the Relationship Model is dependent on consumers purchasing the product for a little bit more than they might be used to paying.  

In exchange, they are assured of the quality of the beans – and that a sustainable income is being directed to the farmers. Thus far, churches and individuals in B.C., Alberta and Ontario have been the primary purchasers.

In the past two years, Relationship Coffee Company has imported two shipments of beans; and they are working on a third. They have also branched out to import tea and sugar – some from other African countries – all under the Relationship Model. Future plans include importing cocoa.

Nagtegaal’s experience working with the farmers has been very positive. “I get to learn a lot, and hopefully they benefit from me as well,” he said.

“If you are thinking in a different mode – that you’re just going to go and help, and teach them what you know – it doesn’t work. Equal partnership is what works.”

Beans are bagged and labeled with the farmer’s name and a description of the growing conditions; and Nagtegaal is starting to include a picture of the farmer on the finished product, to make the purchase more personal.  

Also, he dreams of opening a café in Canada – where, one day, African farmers will visit and have the opportunity to brew their own coffee beans.  

For now, he’s helping to connect people, across boundaries, over warm cups of African coffee – in the hope of a more equitable future.

Contact: relationshipcoffee.biz.

– Kate Dewhurst

May 2010