California's Rogers Family Co. Uses Earthworm Power To Improve
Organic Coffee Production, Build Communities and Protect Nature in
Central America and Africa
LINCOLN, CALIF. (April 22, 2010) —
The Rogers Family Company – a California-based, international
roaster of “Fairly Traded” gourmet coffee - is deploying a ‘green’
army of billions of red earthworms to create nutrient-rich, organic
fertilizer to help small coffee farmers and promote organic coffee
production in Central America and Africa.
The earthworms – which digest and
transform coffee waste into organic fertilizer - are part of the
Lincoln, California company’s goal to encourage organic coffee
production and help workers, their families and protect nature in
Central America, Mexico, Sumatra, Papua New Guinea and Rwanda.
In Boquete, Panama, the earthworms
are part of an effort that has restored a river, drinking water
supply and economy. Birds, native fish, frogs, reptiles and aquatic
mammals are again flourishing in the Caldera River ecosystem. The
fertilizer process utilizes the prodigious digestive talents of the
common California red wriggly worm (Eisenia foetida).
Courtesy Photo: Today, on this once wasted
land, a truly shade-grown, organic coffee farm has emerged.
“The goal was to improve the system and treat, transform and
recycle some 5,000 tons of coffee pulp contaminating the Caldera
River into a nutrient-rich fertilizer to give as an incentive to
small coffee holders and promote organic coffee production,” said
Dr. Mario Serracin, Ph.D, the Rogers Family Co.’s agronomist. The
RFC uses the worms – that digest mounds of coffee pulp (waste from
wet mill coffee production) to brew environmental stewardship as
well as more flavorful coffee on two continents.
In 2009, the company transplanted its
innovative earthworm project in collaboration with some of its
partners in Rwanda. At Karengera Coffee, the RFC uses native
Rwandese worms and California reds in Butare with the USAID coffee
research project. “We wanted to demonstrate the benefits of organic
coffee production to encourage other local farms to adopt organic
methods and reduce their reliance on pesticides that interfere with
food chains and the environment,” said Pete Rogers, the company’s
green coffee buyer. The worms’ castings (waste) are used to create
a spray - “wormtea” - for germination and transplantation of coffee
seedlings. These “worm farms” also are used in simple inexpensive
Biogas systems that turn waste water into clear water for
irrigation and gas to fuel dryers. For complete release and photos,
please click
http://www.rogersfamilyco.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=185&Itemid=104
The company’s environmental initiatives include:
launching a 100-year tree planting program.
becoming “carbon negative.”
purchasing thousands of acres in Mexico and Central America to
create organic farms and restore land to their natural rainforest
state.
commissioning a study to ensure birds and wildlife – including
“globally threatened” species - can thrive on its farms.
The company’s Community Aid program turns its Fairly Traded and
Direct Trade coffee into houses, medical facilities, nutrition
programs and schools for workers and their families. Its brands
include the Organic Coffee Company and San Francisco Bay Premium
Gourmet Coffee.
Try the coffee yourself!
https://www.gourmet-coffee.com/organic-private-reserve-finca-santa-barbara.html?&cat=74
Rogers Family Company Offers Free Shipping of Its "Fairly Traded"
Coffee to Troops
The Lincoln, Calif.- based Rogers Family Company
www.rogersfamilyco.com
– a family-owned, nationwide roaster of gourmet coffee - announced
it will permanently offer free shipping to troops for online orders
of its "Fairly Traded" coffee from families and friends of U.S.
military service members. In June, the Rogers Family Company began
a trial "Summer of Free Shipping to Support Our Troops" program in
which it paid the freight to any overseas base. The Rogers Family
Company (RFC) – which roasts Fairly
Traded
branded gourmet coffee and tea sold throughout the U.S. and abroad
- will offer on a permanent basis free priority-mail shipping for
anyone who sends coffee, tea and other gifts to service members
with an APO/FPO (military post office) address.
Part of the Rogers Family Co.’s
ongoing support for U.S. troops, this program also applies to
service members’ own coffee or tea orders. The free shipping offer,
including coffee gift packages or mugs for birthdays or other
special days, applies to any package or item ordered from the
Rogers Family Gourmet Coffee & Tea Market
www.gourmet-coffee.com
or www.rogersfamilyco.com.
The Rogers Family Company this year
is again teaming up with Operation Gratitude - a non-profit,
all-volunteer organization that sends care packages to military
personnel in hostile zones throughout the world. Rogers Family
Coffee Company has been a longtime partner with Operation
Gratitude. As in the past five years, the RFC will participate in
Operation Gratitude’s Holiday Drive and also supported its
partnership with "The American Veterans Traveling Tribute" which
included a replica (80% scale) of the Vietnam Memorial Wall and
"Cost of Freedom" display.
www.opgratitude.com During last year’s holiday season, the
Rogers Family Company launched a "Letters to Our Troops" contest in
which heart-felt letters of thanks were enclosed with care
packages to troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. "The Rogers
Family Company is committed to recognizing the sacrifices of our
service members throughout the world," said Rogers Family Company
President Jon B. Rogers. "The free shipping program underscores
our appreciation for the hardships the troops endure every day."
In the spring, the Rogers Family
Company donated 45,000 coffee packets to Operation Gratitude’s
Patriotic Drive for service members. In total, the company has
shipped approximately 300,000 bags (some 600,000 pounds) of coffee
to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and on ships at sea since 2005
when it launched its association with Operation Gratitude. The
"Support Our Troops" program is among various social and
environmental projects of the Rogers Family Company which is
celebrating 30 years of doing business and making a difference in
California and in communities thousands of miles away. For example,
earlier this year the company launched a ‘100-year tree planting
program’ to fight global warming and other programs have already
made it ‘carbon-negative.’ Under the program, the company will
plant a native tree at one of its organic coffee farms on behalf of
customers who join its online coffee clubs. The family-owned
company also produces a premium shade-grown coffee line under
license from the National Audubon Society and certified by the
Rainforest Alliance.
In cooperation with
farmers and help from partners and customers, the company’s
"Community Aid" program has completed hundreds of social and
environmental projects. A few sample projects include building
dozens of schools, hundreds of modern houses as well as medical
facilities, schools and day care centers for thousands of workers.
The Rogers Family Company was founded in 1979 by Princeton
University graduate and ex-Revlon executive Jon B. Rogers and his
wife Barbara Rogers. The company is one of the nation’s leading
importers and roasters of "Fairly Traded" branded gourmet coffee
and tea. All four of their adult children play a key role in the
company that supplies its "Responsibly Grown/Fairly Traded" coffee
and tea to customers worldwide. The company’s divisions and brands
include the Organic Coffee Company, San Francisco Bay Premium
Gourmet Coffee, Pleasant Hill Farms, Café Jerusalem, Audubon
Shade-Grown Coffee, East India Coffee & Tea, the Organic Tea Co.
and Black Mountain Gold.
It also sponsors coffee clubs: Java
Perks on the Rogers Gourmet Coffee & Tea Market
www.gourmet-coffee.com
or Audubon Premium Shade-Grown Coffee online stores.
www.auduboncoffeeclub.com With 150 employees, the company makes
approximately 3,500 individual coffee and tea products. The
company’s headquarters and roasting plant is in Lincoln,
California. The RFC’s regional sales office is in San Leandro,
California where it was headquartered for many years.
THE ROGERS FAMILY COMPANY OFFERS FREE MONTHLY
PUBLIC TOURS OF ITS GOURMET COFFEE ROASTING PLANT IN LINCOLN, CALIFORNIA
LINCOLN, CALIF. (January 25, 2010) – Explore the life of coffee – how
it’s grown, where it comes from, how it gets to your cup and how your
coffee choice affects people and nature in communities thousands of
miles away - with The Rogers Family Company
www.rogersfamilyco.com which
will give free public tours of its state-of-the-art gourmet coffee
roasting plant in Lincoln on the last Friday of each month. Tours of the
220,000-square-foot roaster at the company’s headquarters at 1731
Aviation Boulevard – where the company this year will roast and package
some 35 to 40 million pounds of “Fairly Traded” gourmet coffee – will be
from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The tour program begins January 29.
To sign up for the tour – which includes a ‘cupping’ (tasting)
exhibition, overview of the company history, its unique “Community Aid”
program and a Q & A session if needed - please call 1-800-829-1300 or
916/258-8000. Food and drink are not allowed in the facility and long
pants, sleeves and sturdy closed-toe shoes are required. On the tour,
all guests must wear a hair net and bearded men must wear a beard net.
The tour will be led by green coffee buyer Pete Rogers – who spends
three to four months each year visiting the company’s partner coffee
farms in countries ranging from Mexico to Rwanda – and/or other
production managers. There will be coffee samples.
Company officials will explain the roasting/packaging process, whether
you should take your coffee ‘black’ or ‘green’ and how Community Aid –
with help from customers and partners – has completed hundreds of social
and environmental projects to raise the quality of life for thousands of
coffee farmers, workers and their families. Community Aid projects
include building modern housing, medical clinics, schools and day care
centers, providing doctors, nurses, teachers, food and clothing, clean
drinking water and ‘green’ energy systems while protecting or restoring
native plants, rainforest and wildlife including threatened species in
the world’s premier coffee growing regions.
ABOUT THE ROGERS FAMILY CO: Headquartered in Lincoln, California, the
Rogers Family Company supplies its “Fairly Traded” gourmet coffee and
tea to discriminating customers worldwide. The company was founded in
1979 by Jon B. Rogers and his wife Barbara Rogers. One of the nation’s
few remaining family-owned and operated gourmet coffee roasters, the
company has approximately 135 employees who make some 3,500 individual
whole bean and ground coffee and tea products. All four of Jon B.
Rogers’ and Barbara Rogers’ adult children – Jim Rogers, Lisa Smoot,
John W. Rogers and Pete Rogers along with his wife Kirsten Rogers – play
a key role in the company’s daily operations. The company’s divisions
and brands include San Francisco Bay Premium Gourmet Coffee, The Organic
Coffee Co., Fairwinds Gourmet Coffee, Pleasant Hill Farms, Café
Jerusalem Kosher Coffee, AUDUBON Coffee, Black Mountain Gold, East India
Coffee & Tea Co. and the Organic Tea Co.
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