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Sustainable Harvest Becomes a Certified B Corporation

Sustainable Harvest Becomes a Certified B Corporation

Published 08-14-08

Submitted by Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Berwyn, PA - 14 August 2008 - B Lab announced today that specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was certified as a B Corporation, joining over 120 other leading companies who are setting a new corporate standard for social and environmental performance. B Corporations are a new type of corporation that are purpose-driven and create benefit for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. To become certified, B Corporations must meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards, and amend their corporate governing documents to incorporate the interests of employees, community and the environment.

"We became a B Corporation because we have always operated our business in a way that supports all of our stakeholders' interests," says President David Griswold. "We are a triple-bottom line focused company and we are excited to be part of a broader community of organizations that share a common vision."

Founded in 1997, Sustainable Harvest is one of the highest volume importers of organic and fair-trade coffee in North America. Sustainable Harvest partners with a network of over 200,000 coffee farmers in Latin America and Africa and specialty coffee roasters in North America and Europe. Sustainable Harvest pioneered the Relationship Coffee model, which fosters fair and transparent trade throughout the entire coffee supply chain. Sustainable Harvest changed the concept of an importer from a "middleman", who traditionally keeps suppliers and buyers apart, to facilitating partnerships and bringing farmers, roasters, and other industry partners together to create long term buying relationships, improve quality, and address industry challenges. Sustainable Harvest facilitates direct communication between roasters and farmers, thereby creating more successful businesses at both ends of the supply chain.

In addition to its Relationship Coffee model, Sustainable Harvest annually invests nearly $500,000 into overseas farmer training offices and education. Sustainable Harvest recognizes that one of the best means to strengthen its services to roasters is through investment in farmer training, as this enhances producer skills and helps ensure quality deliveries. This funding covers staff and offices at coffee origin (Mexico, Peru, and Tanzania), which provide on the ground support and training for coffee farmers, as well as Let's Talk Coffee, an annual 3-day training event. Let's Talk Coffee brings together all supply chain partners and facilitates peer-to-peer education and training among Sustainable Harvest's network of over 200,000 small and medium scale farmers.

"Sustainable Harvest has been a leader in the movement to spur fairly and sustainably sourced coffee for the last decade," says B Lab co-founder Bart Houlahan. "Not only do they work to build long-term relationships between suppliers and roasters, they also train farmers on the ground in both business and agricultural best practices to ensure the long-term financial and environmental sustainability of their coffee."

Sustainable Harvest works exclusively with family farms and cooperatives and invests over a third of its gross operating margin into the supply chain to train and support farmers and facilitate supply-side activities. Sustainable Harvest's goal is to improve farmers' lives by creating a transparent and sustainable coffee supply chain.

B Lab helps companies like Sustainable Harvest set the new corporate standard for social and environmental performance. Since its founding in 2007, B Lab has certified over one hundred twenty companies with a collective market presence of $900 million, all leaders within the green, local living economies, employee-ownership, fair trade, organic, and sustainable business movements and from the food, apparel, home, financial services, building, action sports, technology, business services, telecom, restaurant, marketing, and retail industries.

About B Lab

B Lab, a 501(c)(3) non profit organization, supports B Corporations by: certifying B Corporations who achieve a minimum score on the B Ratings System; disseminating a legal framework to institutionalize stakeholder interests within existing corporate law; promoting B Corporations through a unifying brand; and helping B Corporations access mission-aligned capital markets.

Certified B Corporations include companies such as Method Home Products, King Arthur Flour, Dansko, T.S. Designs, Hanson Bridgett, TBL Capital, BBMG, Numi Organic Tea, Nolan Painting, Give Something Back Business Products, Seventh Generation, Better World Books, White Dog Café, Agora Partnerships, IceStone, Practical Energy Solutions, Good Capital, Busboys and Poets, New Leaf Paper, and Guayakí Sustainable Rainforest Products. For a full list of Certified B Corporations please see the B Community page on www.bcorporation.net.

To contact B Lab founders Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan and Andrew Kassoy, please call or email Heather Van Dusen or heather@bcorporation.net. B Lab and B Corporation imagery and more information are available at www.bcorporation.net.

About Sustainable Harvest

Based in Portland, Oregon, Sustainable Harvest is the leading importer of fair trade and organic coffees in North America. For more information on Sustainable Harvest, please contact Libby Evans at Libby@sustainableharvest.com or (503) 235-1119; visit the company's website at www.sustainableharvest.com.

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers logo

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers

Sustainable Harvest Coffee Importers provides top roasters in North America and Europe with the highest quality certified organic and fair trade specialty coffee. The Portland, Oregon-based company is dedicated to improving coffee supply chain practices by pioneering a new paradigm for global trade called “Relationship Coffee” and investing in growers to provide them better systems for transparency and traceability that improve the quality of their coffee. Sustainable Harvest is the only coffee importer in North America working exclusively with small family farmers and cooperatives, which represent 100,000 growers in 14 countries. Staff members in Sustainable Harvest’s origin offices in Peru, Mexico, and Tanzania are on the ground to source quality coffees and support growers. The company invests nearly half of its gross operating margin back into the supply chain to train and support farmers and facilitate supply-side activities. For more information on Sustainable Harvest, visit www.sustainableharvest.com.

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