The coffee cooperative in Salvador Urbina Chiapas is made up of about 50 families and has been in existence for close to 25 years.
The cooperative helps provide a unified bargaining tool for the independent growers to negotiate the best prices for their coffee.

Reynaldo, the acting Mayor of Salvador Urbina and Ari are long time residents and moderators of this cooperative.  The cooperative members meet roughly twice per month or as needed and work together to help each other.

The Just Coffee approach is to include the producers in the toasting, packaging, marketing and all business aspects of the coffee industry.

We will be selling ground coffee, roasted beans, and green beans directly to US and domestic Mexican consumers. This is a new adventure for us all!
Over thirty families are going to participate with Just Coffee in the sales of the 2002 crop and we hope for all families in the 2003 harvest.

Almost every one of the families participating with us has family members and loved ones currently working in the US, or on the US/Mexico border.
Gerardo has 6 children; 3 are working in the US, 2 are working in Mexico on the border, and one is still in Chiapas.  Gerardo and his wife are raising their grandchildren while their children are sending money home to cover expenses and save for a small family business.
The tears come easily on holidays and birthdays, or when the letters and phone calls from abroad come in.
These growers have generally lived in Salvador Urbina for several generations.  Finding work far away is the last choice for these residents.

When there is no work and no prospects, the allure of the job market in the US is almost irresistible when combined with the direct knowledge of opportunities, wages, and conditions from relatives and friends already working in the US.


Just Coffee is focusing on the direct causes of economic migration into the US.  We are sure that providing economic incentives to remain on cherished homelands with friends and loved ones will prove much more humane and effective than all the fences, cameras and agents.

Why move if there are opportunities and the potential for financial success and family satisfaction at home?  
Just Coffee, it is more than a cup of coffee. 
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