COORPOL - Coope Regional Industrial Comercial Producao Agric

Cooperativa Regional Industrial e Comercial de Producao Agri (COORPOL) is a cooperative that was first formed in 1998 as an association of agricultural families who pooled their resources to produce and sell coffee on the global market. In 2006, the group became Fair Trade Certified™. Recently, the number of COORPOL members dramatically increased from 40 to 75 farms. Over 30 percent of the farms have achieved organic certification. COORPOL is one of fifteen Brazilian Fair Trade Certified producer groups that participated in the 2007-2010 Responsible Sourcing Partnership (RSP) project. The RSP project is a result of a partnership between USAID, Fair Trade USA, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and SEBRAE-MG designed to improve the quality of Brazilian coffee, increase market linkages and raise producer capacity. Through the partnership, COORPOL participated in numerous trainings to improve coffee quality. The events and workshops included cooperative governance, business management, cupping and post-harvest best practices trainings.