FINCA TRIUNFO VERDE SC

Finca Triunfo Verde, S. C. is a cooperative organization conformed by around 500 organized small farmers, dedicated to organic farm practices in the buffer zone surrounding the El Triunfo biological reserve. Through ecologically friendly practices, they seek to foment conservation, offsetting land and resource degradation in the area and promoting the recovery of natural resources and local biodiversity. Their mission is to improve member livelihoods through the sale of high quality organic coffee in markets that value and rewards the effort behind growing an ecologically friendly product with a fair price. As environmental stewards, Triunfo Verde seeks that members of the organization remain actively engaged in a process of environmental education. Through their technical and agronomic accompaniment, farmers receive the necessary training and education to develop farmer households into productive campesino enterprises, capable of generating sustainable economic development in communities. They advocate for gender and racial equality and religious freedom as founding principles of this cooperative. Their goal is to improve humankind’s relationship to nature through feasible and ecologically sound means, with social justice at its core. #### Fair Trade Certification guarantees 20 cents/lb of the price paid a producer organization is set aside as a social premium. How this money is invested is a decision taken collectively by the general assembly of members at the end of each harvest. One of the key activities at FTV are the youth model farms. During this year, the technical team has continued to monitor and support young farmers and offer technical assistance. This has focused on monitoring and plant development, sampling for pest identification and control, application of foliar and solid fertilizers, shade management, ground cover and training with Root Capital (Financial Education and Advisory Partner Organization) to download data from meteorological stations. This data will allow them to have accurate information to their specific regions to create climate risk and adaptation plans. Some of these common challenges that smallholders face and FTV aims to resolve are the lack of market opportunities and a lack of access to affordable credit. FTV has given farmers access to projects and investment in productivity-related activities as well as conservation projects with a focus on preserving natural resources. FinMujer is a legally constituted financial entity developed by FTV, which is intended to provide FTV small producers with access to timely and low-cost loans, as well as promote a financial culture that strengthens the family economies by promoting a habit of savings. Most of this seed funding came from FTV’s Fair Trade social premiums from 2018-2021