Partnerships Archives

Organic Agroforestry as a Climate Solution: Cool Farm Tool Pilot Project Findings and Lessons Learned

Posted by Root Capital | April 5, 2023

This article originally appeared on the blog of Cooperative Coffees, a Root Capital partner. PHOTOS: James Rodriguez. At Root Capital, we’ve always believed in the power of small-scale, organic agroforestry to contribute to climate stabilization and increased resilience. In our conversations and visits with partners over the years, we’ve seen that producers’ work to plant and conserve…

Root Capital Announces New Initiative to Strengthen Gender Lens Investing in Agriculture

Posted by Root Capital | June 24, 2021

Take a look around any farming community and you’ll see countless hardworking women producing the food and other commodities that nourish our world. Women plant and tend crops, collect the harvest when it’s ready, work in sorting and processing facilities, oversee finances, manage business operations, train farmers and employees, and own rural enterprises. They constitute 43% of the agricultural workforce…

How We Utilize Outcomes-Based Financing to Help Early-Stage Enterprises Grow

Posted by Katie Naeve | February 4, 2021

While you may not be able to find Matagalpa, Nicaragua on a map, you can taste it in your morning cup of coffee. This region is one of the world’s biggest coffee producers, thanks to the thousands of smallholder farming families who call it home. Individually, these farmers could never get their harvest from their field to your breakfast table.

Building Business Capacity from Afar: A Q&A With Root Capital Advisor Ousmane Sané

Posted by Root Capital | August 3, 2020

Root Capital’s innovative advisory services are powered by our talented team of advisory consultants. These trainers work closely with agricultural businesses to address the day-to-day challenges of running a remote enterprise. Working together, they build skills and processes that foster growth and resilience in the long term. One of these advisors is Ousmane Sané, known as Sané, who’s been a…

Root Capital and DFC Invest in Rural Women Through the 2X Challenge

Posted by Katie Naeve and Charity Wallace | July 22, 2020

When you run a small enterprise in a rural community, it’s difficult to access the financing you need to grow. If you’re a woman running one of these enterprises, it’s even harder. The International Finance Corporation estimates that up to 70% of women-owned enterprises in emerging markets are overlooked by lenders. These women-owned enterprises face a…

Un futuro más sostenible para las abejas—y los apicultores—en el sur de México

Posted by Root Capital | June 26, 2020

En la península de Yucatán, México, ubicada lejos del mar, la ciudad de Cacaptxa está llena de abejas. En esta comunidad maya, la miel es más que un negocio, es un punto de referencia cultural. Muchas familias han criado abejas durante generaciones. Algunos aún recuerdan cuando la miel se usaba en lugar de las visitas al médico para cerrar las…

A More Sustainable Future for Bees—and their Keepers—in Southern Mexico

Posted by Root Capital | June 23, 2020

On Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, nestled far from the sea, the town of Kankabchen is teeming with honeybees. In this Maya community, honey is more than just a business—it’s a cultural touchstone. Families have raised bees for generations. Some can still remember when honey was used in place of doctors’ visits to close wounds and treat cataracts. Lidia Maribel Moo Poot…

Harvesting Under Quarantine: One Co-op’s Creative Approach

Posted by Root Capital | June 17, 2020

As the world continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of resilient, farmer-focused agricultural enterprises have never been clearer. For example, in Colombia, Root Capital client Federación Campesina del Cauca (FCC) is helping its farmers adapt to social distancing and other restrictions during the all-important coffee harvest season. Sustainable Harvest, one of FCC’s largest buyers and a Root…

Reflecting on a 20-Year Partnership with Root Capital

Posted by Colleen Popkin -- Keurig Dr Pepper | February 20, 2020

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit the lush, coffee-growing region of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Northern Colombia. The Sierra Nevada is a unique coastal mountain range—with altitudes reaching well above 18,000 feet within sight of the Caribbean. Its rugged and steep geography makes travel to the region quite difficult. Driving to a farm only 14 miles from town took me almost four hours.

Better Coffee, Better Livelihoods: Lessons from Our Second Joint Workshop with Intelligentsia

Posted by Lula Perez | January 28, 2020

"What coffee variety do you think has the lowest quality?” Intelligentsia Coffee’s Director of Sourcing and Shared Value Michael Sheridan asked this question to a room of farmers and business leaders in Honduras last month. “Lempira!” came the unanimous reply. Michael asked a follow-up question: “What is the variety you have planted most on your farms?” Again, the room called out in unison, “Lempira!”