All Big Bend Fair Trade Organic coffees are the highest-grade, 100% Organic and Fair Trade Certified. They buy green coffee beans exclusively from collectively-owned organic and fair trade certified cooperatives whose members own small farms averaging only about three acres each. Organic coffee is cultivated, harvested, and processed without the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or fertilizers. Instead, organic farmers rely on safe techniques like composting, crop rotation, terracing, and biological pest control. The Fair Trade label means that this coffee roaster pays a price premium that goes directly to the coffee farmer. This premium provides farmers a living wage, allow remote farming communities to build schools and health clinics, and encourages farmers to improve the quality of their agricultural practices. Farmers in Fair Trade cooperatives earn 3-5 times more than they would by selling through conventional channels.