“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy coffee, and that’s pretty close.”
At Parkview Blends, we believe that businesses can, and should, make a positive impact on the communities they serve. With that said, we have set goals in the areas of our practice where we can have the greatest impact: Ethical Sourcing, Environmental Stewardship & Community Stewardship and Involvement.
Parkview Blends is committed to offering the highest-quality, ethically purchased and responsibly produced coffee, that create a better future for farmers and our environment.
Want to learn more about what drives our practices?.. Continue below…
Coffee is the second most widely traded commodity in the world. There are more than 17 million coffee farms, providing a means of sustenance for nearly a billion people worldwide.
Coffee as a commodity represents a unique opportunity for global change. It is a huge part of the global economy and creates environmental impacts across billions of acres of land. The choices we make growing, importing, roasting and brewing coffee have an enormous impact. Unlike many commodities, coffee has millions of small producers, and choices made on the individual level by growers and consumers matter.
Small, independent farmers cannot provide the amount / price for high-volume institutional buyers and mass retailers. Specialty Grade Coffee accounts for less than 10% of the coffee consumed. Channel focus on in terms of welfare of small farmers.
In order to know if a farmer is a good steward of the land, it is important to learn about the grower and their practices. The best way to ensure the coffee you purchase is environmentally sound is to buy from Direct Trade importers, as this coffee can be traced back to a specific farm or group of farmers that use sustainable agricultural practices.
As a small batch artisan roaster, Parkview Blends is dependent on importers for our green beans. The two guiding considerations we use when deciding on whom to work with are:
Purchasing Methods: Beans purchased under Direct Trade, Contract-Grown, and Fair-Trade terms, or purchased from member-owned-and-operated co-ops can usually assure you that the growers and labourers are being treated fairly.
Production Methods: Manual harvesting, shade growing or interspersing with conservation land, Rainforest Alliance, Safe & Sustainable Agriculture, and UTZ-Certified Goods are designations that indicate care for the environment.