Meeting Members:
GCP is pleased to welcome new member Coopervitae – Cooperativa Agropecuária dos Produtores Orgânicos de Nova Resende e Região (Agricultural Cooperative of Organic Farmers of Nova Resende and Region). We hear from Alessandro Miranda, President of the cooperative about the company’s mission and principles and how becoming a GCP Member will help optimise their work.
Based in Nova Resende, Minas Gerais, Brazil, Coopervitae joins GCP as a producer member in 2021.
The cooperative was started in 1998 as an Association of Organic Farmers and was officially founded in 2001 as Coopervitae. The company obtained Fairtrade certification in 2006, with the goal of improving coffee production practices and access to market for its members. After a hiatus, 2021 has seen the cooperative resume their organic coffee production to honour the cooperative’s history, to continuously improve coffee sustainability, for the well-being and health of coffee growers and also to access a growing market.
Coopervitae focuses on serving people with love for their work, respect for the environment, and appreciation of one’s own health and that of others. Sustainability is addressed in two ways. Firstly, individually, with each coffee grower: monitoring agricultural practices, water use, environmental conservation and preservation, the health of coffee workers and their families. And secondly, through large projects such as the photovoltaic power station (generating electric energy) that benefits all of the cooperative’s members and a few institutions.
“Becoming a GCP Member is compatible to our mission and principles. Our deep experience in cooperativism show that partnerships with people and organizations that work towards similar goals bring mutual growth and development,” says Alessandro Miranda, President of the cooperative.
“Also, access to GCP assets and support from other GCP Members will allow the optimization of our internal work and of the work developed on the field, improving our services to members.”
“We understand sustainability not as an option, but as a natural obligation of an organization that cherishes the well-being of its members.”
– Alessandro Miranda, President, Coopervitae
This contribution forms part of a new series called Meeting Members.