Ipanema Coffees
Founded in 1969 by Carlos Moacir, Luiz Cyrillo and Julio Bozano, Ipanema Coffees started as Condomínio Aliança in Alfenas, Minas Gerais as a production company of oranges and coffee. By 1986 the company, now known as Ipanema Agroindústria S.A., had reached a capacity of 3,000 hectars of coffee crops thus becoming the largest coffee plantation in the world. When regulations on coffee trade collapsed in the early '90's, Ipanema Coffees made its first ever direct shipment to a foreign buyer.
Today Ipanema Coffees is the largest coffee producer in Brazil and consists of three departments; Ipanema Agricola where all production is managed, Ipanema Commercial where trade of green and processed coffee both domestically and internationally is managed, and Instituto Ipanema which is a non-profit organization responsible for the implementation of social and environmental sustainability programs.
In 2011 Ipanema Agricola became Fair Trade certified as part of the pilot project of Fair Trade USA’s program Fair Trade For All. With 4,770 hectars, 600 permanent workers and 1,000 seasonal workers Ipanema Agricola is the largest of the 7 plantations included in the Fair Trade For All project.
Ipanema Coffees has a three-level hierarchical structure; board of administration, management and collaborators. Collaborators have access to benefits, such as food allowance, free transportation, medical and dental assistance, including for family members, as well as if necessary, psychological and legal counseling. Staff members have full access to the Instituto Ipanema, where they can participate directly in activities and nominate family members to take part in projects.
Ipanema Agricola
Ipanema Agricola consists of 5 plantations with different purposes. Fazenda Capoeirinha in Alfenas was the first property acquired in 1969 and with Fazenda Rio Verde in Conceição do Rio Verde and Fazenda Conquista in Alfenas accounts for the total production area of 3,570 hectars of coffee crops. Fazenda Conquistinha in Alfenas and Fazenda Santana in Carvalhos-Airuoca are both set aside for fauna and flora preservation and projects aimed at replanting the native vegetation are put in place by Instituto Ipanema. These vegetation preservation areas are 364 hectars in total. These plantations are all certified by Fair Trade USA.
Ipanema Commercial
Ipanema Commercial was founded in 1997 to manage international and domestic trade of green and processed coffee from Ipanema Agricola. Ipanema Commercial is divided in three sub-departments: 1) Fazenda de Minas, created in 1995 in order to manage domestic trade. This sub-department follows International Standardization Organization’s (ISO) standards for process management, environmental management and food safety management and is certified by Programa de Qualidade de Café (PQC) and Programa Café Sustentavéis do Brasil (PCS) to ensure high quality of the product and environmental and social sustainability. 2) Ipanema Trading Co. Inc. is Ipanema Coffees’ off-shore trading company in charge of commercializing their products internationally. 3) Ipanema Equal Partners created in 2002 to buy and resell specialty coffees from other producers. The producers implied in this project gets technical assistance from Ipanema Coffees, and it offers more variety to buyers who can trace origin through labeling.
Instituto Ipanema
Instituto Ipanema was founded in 2000 by Ipanema Coffees as a non-profit organization in charge of implementing social and environmental sustainability projects for Ipanema Agricola and Ipanema Commercial. There is an annual requirement of at least 10 social projects benefitting at 12,000 people regardless of age. Besides that they run reforestation projects aimed at planting 500,000 trees in the next decade, sheltering projects for recovering drug addicts and homeless people, education projects for children and adults, medical support, job training and building recreational facilities.
Today Ipanema Coffees is the largest coffee producer in Brazil and consists of three departments; Ipanema Agricola where all production is managed, Ipanema Commercial where trade of green and processed coffee both domestically and internationally is managed, and Instituto Ipanema which is a non-profit organization responsible for the implementation of social and environmental sustainability programs.
In 2011 Ipanema Agricola became Fair Trade certified as part of the pilot project of Fair Trade USA’s program Fair Trade For All. With 4,770 hectars, 600 permanent workers and 1,000 seasonal workers Ipanema Agricola is the largest of the 7 plantations included in the Fair Trade For All project.
Ipanema Coffees has a three-level hierarchical structure; board of administration, management and collaborators. Collaborators have access to benefits, such as food allowance, free transportation, medical and dental assistance, including for family members, as well as if necessary, psychological and legal counseling. Staff members have full access to the Instituto Ipanema, where they can participate directly in activities and nominate family members to take part in projects.
Ipanema Agricola
Ipanema Agricola consists of 5 plantations with different purposes. Fazenda Capoeirinha in Alfenas was the first property acquired in 1969 and with Fazenda Rio Verde in Conceição do Rio Verde and Fazenda Conquista in Alfenas accounts for the total production area of 3,570 hectars of coffee crops. Fazenda Conquistinha in Alfenas and Fazenda Santana in Carvalhos-Airuoca are both set aside for fauna and flora preservation and projects aimed at replanting the native vegetation are put in place by Instituto Ipanema. These vegetation preservation areas are 364 hectars in total. These plantations are all certified by Fair Trade USA.
Ipanema Commercial
Ipanema Commercial was founded in 1997 to manage international and domestic trade of green and processed coffee from Ipanema Agricola. Ipanema Commercial is divided in three sub-departments: 1) Fazenda de Minas, created in 1995 in order to manage domestic trade. This sub-department follows International Standardization Organization’s (ISO) standards for process management, environmental management and food safety management and is certified by Programa de Qualidade de Café (PQC) and Programa Café Sustentavéis do Brasil (PCS) to ensure high quality of the product and environmental and social sustainability. 2) Ipanema Trading Co. Inc. is Ipanema Coffees’ off-shore trading company in charge of commercializing their products internationally. 3) Ipanema Equal Partners created in 2002 to buy and resell specialty coffees from other producers. The producers implied in this project gets technical assistance from Ipanema Coffees, and it offers more variety to buyers who can trace origin through labeling.
Instituto Ipanema
Instituto Ipanema was founded in 2000 by Ipanema Coffees as a non-profit organization in charge of implementing social and environmental sustainability projects for Ipanema Agricola and Ipanema Commercial. There is an annual requirement of at least 10 social projects benefitting at 12,000 people regardless of age. Besides that they run reforestation projects aimed at planting 500,000 trees in the next decade, sheltering projects for recovering drug addicts and homeless people, education projects for children and adults, medical support, job training and building recreational facilities.