Starbucks Donates IDR400 Million to Sumatran Coffee Farmers from ‘Art in a Cup’ Campaign

Mr. Anthony Cottan, Director of Starbucks Indonesia, helps Starbucks partner to plant their coffee tree seeds as part of Art in a Cup campaign.

Starbucks Indonesia donates a total of IDR400 Million in the form of 150,000 coffee tree seeds to coffee farmers in Sumatra from ‘Art in a Cup’ campaign that lasted from March until April 2018.

Starbucks Indonesia donates a total of IDR 400 Million in the form of 150,000 coffee tree seeds to coffee farmers in Sumatra from ‘Art in a Cup’ campaign that lasted from March until April 2018. Collaborating with Starbucks Farmers Support Center in Indonesia, the handover ceremony took place in the Farmer Support Center (FSC) in Berastagi, North Sumatra.

Starbucks has commitment to ethical sourcing and being responsible to community. The Art in a Cup campaign is one of Starbucks Indonesia program towards this commitment where every 10 cups sold from the campaign is converted to one coffee tree seed for Sumatra coffee farmers. In addition, 10% from every Sumatra whole bean sold will be used to improve infrastructures in the coffee-farmers area.

Starbucks Indonesia alongside with journalists, partners, and coffee farmers were having fun at Farmer Support Center (FSC) in Berastagi, North Sumatra for donation ceremony of Art in a Cup campaign.

“Helping farmers is just the beginning, but we believe it’s the entire surrounding communities that make coffee possible,” said Anthony Cottan, Director of Starbucks Indonesia. He then added, “Last year, Starbucks helped renovate a school in one of the villages to improve the learning environment. This year we hope that we can create a larger positive impact from the donation we’ve collected through the campaign. Starbucks has been sourcing coffee from Sumatra for over 40 years now, and we truly appreciate every person involved in every step of the journey.”

“Helping farmers is just the beginning, but we believe it’s the entire surrounding communities that make coffee possible.”

- Anthony Cottan, Director, Starbucks Indonesia.

Working closely with Starbucks Farmers Support Center Indonesia, the donation that has been collected will be allocated to coffee farmers under C.A.F.E practice program (Coffee and Farming Equity). Local farmers can receive free access to the latest findings of top agronomists, including resources and expertise that can help lower their cost of production, reduce pests and diseases, and advanced soil management techniques. “FSC provides a variety of resources and expertise that can improve the quality of coffee through C.A.F.E practices. Good quality of crops will affect the profitability; therefore we always try to ensure the future of high quality coffees for everyone,” said Surip Mawardi, Head Agronomist of Starbucks Farmer Support Center.

“Starbucks has always been involved in helping our communities and we would like to thank them for their continuity of active participation in making an impact to our village and standard of living. Not only do they care about the coffee farmers, but they also care about the well-being of the surrounding communities,” Wakil Sembiring, Head of Suka Mbanyak Village stated as main beneficiary from the campaig