"Women Power Zongolica" is a coffee grown and produced by 20 women. WPZ comes from women in the Zongolica region of Veracruz, Mexico. The region is deeply influenced by the rich, ancestral heritage of its people, most of whom identify as part of the Nahuas indigenous group. Across generations, the Nahuas have shared their language and wisdom about plants, rivers, animals, mountains, the planet and the universe through storytelling by their elders. Coffee farms in Zongolica are agro-ecosystems, meaning the farms take into account the impact of the farming well beyond the farm and work to balance the energy and nutrients to preserve the region’s biodiversity. Intercropping and forest conservation are among the practiced tactics. The coffee was pulped with hand-cranked de-pulpers, washed and dried on patios for 15 days. Twenty producers contributed to this lot, and each adhered to the same practices on her own farm. The women who contributed to WPZ are also part of NKG Bloom, the initiative of NKG to ensure the long-term viability of green coffee supplies and provide smallholder farmers with the opportunities and resources they need to run their farms at full potential and enter pathways out of poverty.

The Unit for Sustainable Services to Producers (USSP) is a department part of Becamo that focuses on strengthening the coffee value chain. The purpose of this structure is to execute programs and projects that improve the environmental, social and economic conditions of coffee producing families in Honduras. - Gender Equality: Integral participation of women, men, and young producers. - Adaptability to Climate Change: Good environmental practices aimed for the protection and conservation of high value ecosystems. - Diversification: Encourage diversified farming (crops and animals) to generate multiple incomes (beekeeping; agroforestry system) - Quality Management: Strengthen processes that improve the rate profile with best practices and organic solutions.

SKN Caribecafé, exporting company of Neumann Kaffee Gruppe (NKG) in Colombia, is part of a group of 100 organizations leading the attempts towards environmental protection and the transition towards a reduction of carbon emissions in Colombia. Together with the Colombian Ministry of Environment, SKN committed themselves to the reduction of carbon emissions on farm level. The reduction of carbon emissions in the production model is an important part of NKG’s strategy to help coffee-growing communities to be more resilient and to implement climate-smart agricultural practices. To accompany and back up producers in this effort, SKN and the Colombian Ministry of Environment published an agreement to work together towards a coffee production model with reduced emissions of carbon at the farm level. With this agreement, producers and staff from SKN receive technical assistance and guidance from the Ministry of Environment. They learn how to calculate the carbon emissions in the production model and how to change the practices on farm level with the aim to produce coffee with reduced carbon emissions. This agreement also represents the commitment of NKG in Colombia to environmental sustainability and the sustainable economic growth of the country.

Finca Puebla jointly with ECC and HRNS has built a Youth Center in order to attend youngsters of our two neighbor communities. Rural youths from the communities Santa Rita and El Porvenir are being supported to overcome social, economic and employment-related challenges. They receive vocational training, life skills, scholarships, and support to set up own businesses.

NKG partners with JDE Peet's, Ibero Kenya, Bernhard Rothfos, and Tropical Farm Management. The strategic partnership aims to improve sustainable coffee production through regenerative farming practices and additional training for smallholder coffee farmers in Western Kenya. Through this effort, the partners strive to support 50,000 smallholder farmers, including 20,000 women, prioritizing gender inclusion and equality.

Besides others, NKG Stockler supports a fantastic project in Cerrado Mineiro, Brazil: the “Consórcio Cerrado das Águas”. It is a collaborative platform including several companies, the government and civil society. Its objective is to join efforts for environmental preservation and conservation, in order to combat climate change. Their Conscious Producer Investment Program (CPIP) provides specialist services to producers in a given watershed to promote the environmental development of their property focusing on three fronts: restoration, climate-smart agricultural practices, and efficient water resources management.

NKG through City Coffee Ltd. together with clients like Tchibo, InterAmerican Coffee and Atlas Coffee Importers, acknowledges a broader responsibility for the Tanzanian communities involved in coffee and implements the Coffee Clubs Project, an example of a highly impactful intervention with lasting positive effects. As part of the project, secondary schools in coffee regions receive coffee seedlings, inputs, and technical support to establish demonstrational farms on school lands. Interested students can join the Coffee Clubs, in which they learn about the agronomic aspects of growing coffee and jointly take care of the school plantation.

Repartriating carbonized organic matter as biochar, produced from coffee production residues and other organic materials. Around the world, a growing number of coffee producers use biochar. The manifold benefits of biochar, from an agronomic perspective, include soil fertility and structure improvements, reduction of fertilizer dependence, increased disease resistance and optimized residue management. Furthermore, carbonizing coffee residues into biochar, and using the renewable energy produced during the process has a strong potential to contribute to a decarbonization of the coffee industry.

Casa da Criança (“House of the Children”) was founded by Jose Carlos Avelar in the 1980s, as a place to support children from poorer communities in Santo Antônio do Amparo. Casa da Criança had been closed for 10 years, when in 2014, Fazenda da Lagoa hosted “O Mundo do Café,” an art contest that encouraged local children to paint scenes of coffee life—lives most of them and their families lived. The contest was a success, most importantly because it gave the Neumann Gruppe an immediate view of the community’s need for resources for its children and young people. And it led to the re-opening of Casa da Criança. Neumann Gruppe, along with HRNS, helped fund the reopening of Casa da Criança e do Jovem Amparense (“House of the Children and Youth of Amparo”) with a mission to help prepare young people—socially and vocationally—to become healthy, active members of their community. In addition to recreational activities for children, Casa da Criança offers long-duration classes such as Mechanization (training young people to fix tractors and other machines, which takes place on Fazenda da Lagoa), Rural Administration, Computer and Software and Music, as well as short-term classes including Tractor Driving, Handicrafts Manufacturing, Coffee Cuisine and Caretakers for the Elderly.