Concerning our ongoing battle against “Leaf Rust” and the potential loss of our organic status as a sizable casualty we polled our Cropshare membership for their thoughts and here was their incredible response so far:
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I look forward to getting your delicious coffee one way or the other.
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Sustainability is so much more than organic certified. It speaks to your entire business, including the sustainability of your business. Your approach has always been practical and focused on doing what’s good and right. It is not about perfection or dogma. Nancy and I remain strong supporters and trust your decisions are well considered.
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We are members because we support you, your practices and philosophy, and the quality of your coffee. That won’t change. You are the farmers and experts on your situation. Do the best you can with what you have and we will support you. Thanks for keeping us informed. Mike & Sue
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I’m so sorry you and the other organic farmers are facing this dilemma. We support you!
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I would love to know how much of the crop would lose the organic status. Additionally (and especially if you’re projecting the entire production to no longer be organic), would there be a plan to eventually revisit/reapply for the organic label again?
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You all do an amazing job and we are so stoked to be partners with you. We will keep buying green from you regardless of organic certification, you go above and beyond with all you do at KRF and we partnered with you for those reasons not your organic badge. Let me know how I can be if help in the future. While I am grateful that your coffee is certified organic, it’s your commitment to the entire cycle of the beans, trees, forest, island that matters most. I really hope good options emerge to ensure the health of you, your trees and your singularly amazing coffee. It is an honor to be a customer and get to share your beans. Thank you.
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A very difficult situation! Here is my opinion:I think given the circumstance, the survival of the farm should take precedence. This is your livelihood after all!Knowing your dedication to the environment and your desire for the coffee you produce to be organic… i know you can get back to the place you were at BR (before rust) and regain the organic label. The crop and your business has to survive first though. It will take time to get the fungicides that are certified organic in other parts of the world, certified by the state. In the meantime… I am willing to continue to purchase your coffee if you choose to use the certified fungicide. All the best to you! Follow your heart and listen to your intuition and trust you will make the best decision for you and the farm.
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I am sorry to hear of your dilemma, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do until you find something better. So if that means you have to use a fungicide then that’s what you do until you can get access to better ways. As for me still gonna buy your coffee. Best regards.
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Keep up the great work! We love the coffee!
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Wishing you all the best in this difficult circumstance.
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Very tough situation for you. To us we know your hearts and minds are in the right place and we wish you well as you grapple with this difficult situation.
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Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Its unfortunate this is happening and it sounds like a fungicide is unavoidable. I trust you to make the best, sustainable decision to keep your business going. Good luck to you. Thank you very much for reaching out to us for our input.
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Save your coffee, our coffee. You have to do what is best to fight the fungus.
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We’re behind you all 1,000% percent!
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You folks are the best in so many ways. The fact that you are asking for and care about your customers’ opinions speaks volumes. Thank you so much for all you do … you bring the sun up every morning.
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The rigorously enforced organic certification is not helpful to organic farmers. Punitive to put it mildly. Go pick on the toxic polluters. Do what you have to to stay in business. I trust you will make the best choice. I can’t live without your fantastic coffee!!Thank you!
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I have some suggestions. I know that both the fungicide and carbon neutral goals are going to have associated costs above and beyond your normal annual budget. I suggest you develop a GOFUND or similar funding raising method to raise additional funds to assist in funding both these endeavors. Also you could update your website to include information on both goals and request/allow for customer donations to fund either or both the Coffee Rust and Carbon Neutral goals.
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Our (the Hartman’s) hope you beat this. We’ll be sending our good thoughts! Goodluck!
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Thank you for your honesty in your business and have more of an admiration with your future endeavors. Its difficult to find a business who has the honesty and transparency as yours. In this case I support 100% your sustainable business and will continue to purchasing your coffee. Thanks again for your honesty and wish for better health to you and your farm. Best to all of you!!!
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Love the coffee.
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First, thank you for making such great coffee! I’m so sorry to hear of your dilemma. I’ve been enjoying your amazing coffee for quite a number of years now. Sadly I know government bureaucracy and agency approvals can sometimes be less dependent on actual science and more dependent on political and financial considerations. I’m a little curious as to which countries certify the natural anti-fungal products but honestly I’m not sure what I’d do with that information since I doubt there’s a listing of trustworthy vs. non-trustworthy countries out there for this kind of thing. You obviously have to find a way to protect the trees. Given that you went to the effort to ask your customers and given I believe you’re committed to doing the right thing as best you can the bottom line is that I’ll trust you’ll do the best you can to keep your coffee as clean as you can. I hope you can find a workable solution and that if you do lose organic certification it will only be for a short time.
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We are confident that Rainforest Coffee Farm will continue to have the best outcome for continued high quality Kona Coffee Bean
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Do whatever you need to do to continue running your farm. We plan to continue buying your coffee.
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We love your coffee and farm and are working to expand our offerings to include “sustainably sourced” coffees when circumstances warrant the purchase of non-organic coffees.
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Organic is very important us, however as the Fungicide is approved as organic elsewhere, we are prepared to continue to support and use your wonderful coffee.
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We expect safe and delicious organic coffee. However, we understand the circumstance you are facing there and your dilemma. Even though you are going to use fungicide against leaf rust, we hope you choose not to influence to human health and environment with minimum volume to keep the taste.
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I believe that your farm takes the best effort and I suppose your farm.
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We love the coffee and we trust the growers.
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I trust that Kona Rainforest coffee will make the right decisions for the future of the farm.
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We appreciate your efforts in making the earth healthier & making healthy coffee available to enjoy! If everyone in the world had this much integrity we would be better off. While we wish you didn’t have to use fungicide it is understandable in this circumstance. Just like we eat healthy foods but sometimes still need pharmaceutical medicine on rare occasions. Praying this clears it up for you and all the islands.
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Dawn I’m confident you will be doing what ever you need to protect the farm and us
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We are a long time member with subscriptions for both caffeinated and decaffeinated beans. We love the flavor of your beans and fully support all your efforts to cope with this issue.
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Dawn, for God’s sake, do what is necessary to continue to produce GREAT coffee!! Sure, being organic is good, but organic is not mandatory for GREAT coffee. Also, if you cannot grow coffee, what good is being organic? Do what you need to do to grow coffee and stay in business. I’ll always be your loyal customer
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appreciate all you do! You need to protect your crop and deal with the invasive fungus.
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I trust and support you guys to make the best decisions. Going out of business for the sake of staying certified is ridiculous in my opinion. We all need to make choices in life. And while I’ll appreciate even having this conversation I will stick with you guys, like I have for how ever many years I have so far. Feel free to call me to chat. Wishing you Dawn and Robert all the best. Lital and I are behind you.
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Thank you for your wonderful coffee. I hope to visit the coffee plantation some day.
