WELL EARTH
Frontier Co-op’s Well Earth Impact Program is another key component of our commit- ment to centering resilience for smallholder farmers. Using a people-first approach, we empower our suppliers to adopt production processes that enable them to in- crease their market share and keep more of what they earn in their businesses and communities. Through Well Earth, we use the dollars we earn together to fund com- munity-building projects, offer technical expertise, and provide industry knowledge that strengthens and maximizes opportunities for our supplier communities. Target: Five million dollars invested in supply chain development through Well Earth and externally funded programs by FY26 We aim to ensure strength and resilience of our supply chain around the world through investment projects, including those that support: Community building • Addressing community-specific needs including education, medical and basic needs support • Ensuring farmer equity, and fortifying the financial stability of farming communities along our supply chain Business building • Introducing value-added processes, such as steam pasteurization and grinding • Introducing sustainable, value-add agricultural practices, including transition- ing farmers to organic and introducing new organic crops Climate resilience
Tea farmers in India attend a training on the benefits of the cooperative model.
USAID COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM Starting in 2018, Frontier Co-op partnered with the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Cooperative Development Program (CDP) to implement the Safe Processing in Cooperative Enterprise (SPICE) project. The project aimed to support smallholder farmers in rural communities and to better understand the barriers they face to industry knowledge, reliable infrastructure and environmental resilience. Beginning with Frontier Co-op’s sourcing partners in Sri Lanka, the Small Organic Farmers’ Association (SOFA), and expanding to include FEDECOVERA in Guatemala and Young Mountain Tea (YMT) in India, the project has successfully strengthened socially and environmentally responsible operations, and the resil- ience of the farmers and their communities.
• Investing in crop diversification, including comestible crops • Investing in regenerative organic social and agricultural practices
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