Karen Coffee Co-Op

The highlands of Northern Thailand provide excellent conditions to grow Arabica coffee plants. Many hill tribe farmers are growing organic coffee. But they do not know how to market their products or to produce a stable quality. Often they are in debt and they sell their coffee beans below market price and may not get paid in full.

Presently, there are about 70 families that are interested in starting a coffee cooperative with the Rain Tree Foundation. It is our aim to gradually improve the farmers income by developing the farming techniques, improving the processing and quality control and streamlining the marketing efforts. At the moment we are surveying other coffee cooperatives to learn their methods that can be transferred to the hill tribe peoples.