InterAmerican Coffee is now a licensed supplier through the Regenerative Organic Alliance! ROA uses USDA Certified Organic as a baseline and adds other criteria and benchmarks to create the highest standards for agriculture. More specifically, it’s built on three pillars: soil health, animal welfare and social fairness.
Regenerative Organic emphasizes that soil is essential to life on the planet and so must be protected and rehabilitated. It promotes practices that combat the effects of modern agricultural methods. These include cover cropping, crop rotation, minimal soil disturbance, composting and, of course, zero use of chemical pesticides.
These practices preserve the soil’s microbiome and structure, which retain water and carbon and prevent erosion. They also help to fix nitrogen and other nutrients into the soil and draw down (or sequester) carbon from the environment. These practices additionally help to control disease, pests and weeds, making for more vigorous and nutritious crops.
Regarding the second pillar, stated animal welfare practices include ensuring freedom from discomfort, distress, hunger and injury, providing suitable shelter and diet, and allowing animals the freedom to express normal behaviors.
Finally, the social fairness pillar supports stewards of the land with fair pay, good working conditions, capacity building, democratic organizations and long-term commitments, to name a few. (You can view the complete lists here.)
Full-Farm Ecosystems
The ROA emphasizes that “regenerative agriculture” isn’t a new term or idea. Rather, it draws from indigenous wisdom and practices, was further promoted by George Washington Carver in the early 20th century and was coined by the Rodale Institute in the 1980s, as a way of distinguishing a style of farming that “goes beyond sustainable.”
All told, the ROA supports sustainable, ethical and reparative agricultural practices, and we are proud to support its work. Please ask your trader about purchasing ROA certified coffees. •
