How we work with our farmers

Fairness is really important to us. We rely on our suppliers to grow great quality coffee and tea, which means they deserve to be rewarded fairly for their produce. We wouldn’t be here without them.

This means that we’ll always pay sustainable prices that are above the cost of production. Our business agreements have to be profitable for our valued farmers. And when it comes to high quality produce such as high grade coffee, we’ll pay a premium too. CHANGE***

By doing this, we can help ensure that our suppliers can continue to run their businesses for many years. If they’re paid a fair price, they’ll be able to afford to grow top quality coffee and tea yea-in, year-out. This is good for farmers, good for us, and good for our customers.

Long term contracts are another essential part of this. Farmers in many regions can face challenges when buyers opt for short-term contracts that offer little in the way of predictability and reliability. Some of the places in which we source tea and coffee have to deal with instability on a regular basis. And there can be both man-made and natural causes. Drought, flash floods and other serious weather conditions can be catastrophic for smallholders. Political situations can also impact the market.

By promising long term contracts to those that we work with, we can help growers to continue trading even when weather conditions are unfavourable or the market is weaker than usual. If we didn’t, they wouldn’t have the security they need to continue growing and trading.

The tea story

For a number of reasons, tea prices have dropped a little in the last couple of years. While this might seem like a good thing at first, what it actually means is that many tea growers have struggled. With prices in fluctuation, and their production costs still as high as ever, stability isn’t a guarantee. And that’s not good for us either.

To combat this, last year we took steps to help give some of our valued partners in Africa the help and security they need to continue trading.

90% of the tea we buy comes directly from the producers that we work with on the ground. To help foster this relationship, we’ve set up long term contracts with our biggest suppliers, which means committing to buy their tea for the next three years.

Thinking long-term also helps us to continue sourcing really high quality tea. Not only do we promise to help with prices at a base level, but we’re also happy to pay a premium for really great tea. In Kenya and Rwanda last year, we paid £1.85m above the average auction prices.

Safeguarding Coffee producers

Much like tea, coffee prices have taken a tumble too. A huge crop in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer of coffee, has meant that other markets have struggled to compete. In some cases, this has meant that smallholders have even looked to entirely different crops and moved away from growing coffee beans.

We recognise this kind of thing as a potential problem however, which is why we committed to paying a fair price a long time ago. All of the coffee we buy is sourced at a fair price that’s affordable for farmers, even when prices drop like they have done in the coffee market. And just like with our tea-growers in Africa, we have long-term contracts with most of our supply chain (70% in fact). Our contracts are anywhere up to 3 years long and we have been working with some suppliers for more than 15 years now.

We’ve also been working with the Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade Foundation for many years. Certification bodies such as these seek to help ensure that farming around the world is sustainable.