In order to advance sustainable agriculture globally, our strategy is to identify the most successful agricultural programs and platforms, scale them up, and try to replicate them where they are needed around the world. Together with our partners, including WWF, TechnoServe, USAID and others, we help suppliers and producers test and refine new techniques and methods. We also implement programs to increase efficiency and crop yields for farmers. In order to reach our goal of 100 percent sustainable sourcing, we integrate sustainability aspects into all our programs.

A leading example of one of our regional programs is Promesa-Café. The Coca-Cola Company has partnered with Heifer International and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation to develop this program in the agricultural region of Chiapas in Mexico, where farmers have weathered a difficult economic period due to low coffee bean prices on the market and a fungal infestation called coffee rust. The program’s aim is to help 2,000 small- scale coffee farmers develop more sustainable livelihoods.

Beginning in 2014, we have been introducing more sustainable agricultural practices, leveraging cooperative business structures, improving farmers’ management capacities and fostering gender equity by enabling women farmers in the region. We also have put a process in place to give contracts directly to coffee producers who adhere to our SAGPs. Direct contracts combined with the adoption of better agricultural practices, including pest management and efficient use of fertilizer, can boost profit margins for both farmers and suppliers.