CQI awards 2018 Medal of Merit to Colombian Coffee Growers Federation

During its annual luncheon, the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) awarded its 2018 Leadership Medal of Merit, in the corporate category, to the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (FNC). The CQI honoured the FNC for its commitment of more than 90 years to improving farmers’ livelihoods, fostering sustainability and increasing coffee quality, helping to strengthen the Colombian coffee sector as a whole. “Thanks in large part to the work of the FNC, quality and sustainability are not recent trends for Colombian coffee growers,” said CQI Executive Director, David Roche. “These have been a priority for more than 90 years, along with differentiating quality, adding value, and staying ahead of the curve on economic, social and environmental practices.” “We receive this recognition with double gratitude: firstly, for the prestige of CQI in the global coffee industry, and secondly, because it comes at a crucial time, when we redouble efforts to increase sustainability of coffee farmers not only in Colombia, but in the world, with an approach of shared responsibility of all actors in the chain,” said Roberto Vélez, the FNC CEO, about receiving the award on behalf of all Colombian producers. The FNC was created in 1927 by Colombia’s coffee growers themselves in order to have an organization that would represent them nationally and internationally, work for their interests and improve the quality of their lives. Today it represents over 540,000 families dedicated to coffee production. The CQI recognized that the FNC has undertaken many important initiatives and taken visionary measures to strengthen the Colombian coffee sector, such as the creation, in 1938, of the National Coffee Research Center (Cenicafé), which works on innovative methods to increase sustainability and yields of coffee farming and improve quality. The FNC works together with national, departmental and municipal authorities, as well as cooperation agencies, to provide health care, education, infrastructure and rural development that strengthen the coffee sector. The FNC’s programs also help farmers prepare for challenges ahead, including adapting to climate change, fostering sustainable coffee farming, and stimulating generational continuity, the CQI highlighted. More recently, the FNC has led the effort to bring together coffee producers from several countries to create a new economic order to promote coffee sustainability