All our coffee is purchased from a supplier that works directly with the farmers. Farm Gate Coffee is the name they give to direct trade coffee buying program. Farm Gate pricing means that they have negotiated a price directly with the farmer “at the farm gate,” that is, without any of the confusing export and import fees.
The prices they pay for coffee are above Fair Trade minimums, and with our Farm Gate coffees they can easily verify that the good price we pay makes it to the people who do the work, and are responsible for the great cup quality of our coffee. Farm Gate is a simple principle that allows coffee producers to make premium prices in reward for coffee quality, and to reinvest to improve quality even more in the future.
Its guaranteed that Farm Gate prices are 50% over Fair Trade (FT) pricing, but often they are 100%+ more that FT minimums. Support FT, and continue to offer FT lots. The supplier doesn’t have certifiers for Farm Gate, as Fair Trade does. Instead they substitute their direct involvement at ground level in the buying process with farms, places they visit in person, so they know what they received if they are paying them through a middle-person.