Clinton Foundation starts Haitian coffee project
October 08, 2013 | 07:03 PM
The Clinton Foundation announced today that it is launching a project to revitalize the Haitian coffee industry.
The foundation, whose leaders now include former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, has reached agreement with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Leslois Shaw Foundation, and La Colombe Torrefaction to bring Haitian coffee to more locations.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in New York and Toronto will begin featuring an heirloom coffee variety, grown semi-wild in the mountains surrounding Thiotte, directly sourced by La Colombe Torrefaction.
In an effort to bring Haitian coffee to more markets and create jobs in Haiti, the Clinton Foundation and La Colombe, with support from the Leslois Shaw Foundation, have also launched the Haiti Coffee Academy — a model farm and teaching center in one of Haiti’s primary coffee growing regions, providing training, seedlings, tools and resources, helping to improve the quality and quantity of yields.
“The Haiti Coffee Academy will carry on the tradition of Haitian coffee by teaching a new generation the skills of the trade,” said former President Clinton.
Coffee has played a significant role throughout Haiti’s history, the Clinton Foundation noted in a news release. An ecologically and economically significant crop, it is not only the main source of income for more than 100,000 farmers, but the coffee “ecosystem” also sustains a large part of the remaining tree cover (currently at less than 1.5 percent of land) of the country, the foundation said. One hundred years ago, Haiti was a leading coffee exporter, but production has declined dramatically in recent years.
The Leslois Shaw Foundation is a private family foundation in Ontario, Canada.
The foundation, whose leaders now include former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, has reached agreement with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, the Leslois Shaw Foundation, and La Colombe Torrefaction to bring Haitian coffee to more locations.
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in New York and Toronto will begin featuring an heirloom coffee variety, grown semi-wild in the mountains surrounding Thiotte, directly sourced by La Colombe Torrefaction.
In an effort to bring Haitian coffee to more markets and create jobs in Haiti, the Clinton Foundation and La Colombe, with support from the Leslois Shaw Foundation, have also launched the Haiti Coffee Academy — a model farm and teaching center in one of Haiti’s primary coffee growing regions, providing training, seedlings, tools and resources, helping to improve the quality and quantity of yields.
“The Haiti Coffee Academy will carry on the tradition of Haitian coffee by teaching a new generation the skills of the trade,” said former President Clinton.
Coffee has played a significant role throughout Haiti’s history, the Clinton Foundation noted in a news release. An ecologically and economically significant crop, it is not only the main source of income for more than 100,000 farmers, but the coffee “ecosystem” also sustains a large part of the remaining tree cover (currently at less than 1.5 percent of land) of the country, the foundation said. One hundred years ago, Haiti was a leading coffee exporter, but production has declined dramatically in recent years.
The Leslois Shaw Foundation is a private family foundation in Ontario, Canada.
