¨In the very broadest sense, every time you buy a coffee on the basis of origin from a specialty vendor 
rather than on the basis of price from a supermarket you are supporting a market-based solution to 
tropical poverty and environmental degradation. In fact, you are helping everyone. You are helping 
yourself to better coffee and a more expressive choice of coffee; you are helping a college-student clerk 
work at something slightly more interesting than taking orders at a fast-food outlet; you are helping roasters, 
dealers, and exporters lead more interesting lives based on shared passion rather than on pure number 
crunching; and you are recognizing and rewarding the hard work of mill operators and growers.
All of this for a few cents more per cup."

-Kenneth Davids

Colombian Coffee, Fairly and Ethically traded since 1927

The Colombian Coffee Industry is one of the most structured ones around the world.  
The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia (FNC) was  created by the farmers 80 years ago in order to join together
and achieve the benefits and power that only a larger organization could provide; this is especially important as an average size 
of an individual coffee farm in Colombia is only around 2 hectares.  

Nowadays, The FNC is internationally recognized as the earliest form of the presently abundant Fair Trade organizations, which have 
widely emerged after the proven social and long-term commercial success of the FNC.  Existing Fair Trade institutions have therefore 
learned and taken further the Colombian Coffee Farmers experience of fair and ethical trade to other developing countries, perhaps 
with less structured Coffee industries than Colombia, and equally important, spreading out the concept to other agricultural sectors worldwide.

The FNC's commitment to Research and Development as well as to the use of Modern Marketing to promote Colombian coffee around 
the world has allowed the farmers to create a stronger awareness and perception of their coffee and ensure favorable market conditions 
for Café de Colombia in the international market.

Featuring Juan Valdez (the quintessential "cafetero"), his mule, and the Colombian mountains in the background, the purpose of the 
100% Colombian Coffee logo is to identify and serve as a seal of guarantee to certain Colombian Coffee Brands that do indeed consist of 
100% Colombian Coffee, and most importantly, revenue from their sale is directly channelled to benefit the farmers and their communities.

The FNC is a non-for-profit, non-political organization, fully led by the farmers, benefiting  more than 500.000 families with its activities:

1. Price Guarantee	2. Internationally Recognized Superior Quality	3. Social, Environmental and Commercial Sustainability
It is a buffer mechanism against the volatile and unpredictable international coffee market. Extra revenue generated from high international coffee prices is held in reserve to maintain a minimum price for when it drops again, assuring an adequate, stable income to all the farmers.	The FNC has been able to guarantee the production of superior quality coffee for the international market thanks to the Farmers' commitment to produce their beans under strict quality, yet traditional, human-intensive methods, reflected on a price premium paid uniquely for Colombian Coffee in the International Market.	The Coffee regions of Colombia -unlike in most coffee producing countries- are paradoxically some of the most developed and prosperous within the country, which mirrors the FNC's investment and dedication to the improvement of social, environmental and long-term economic performance of these regions.

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