We did come and enjoy the music, food, people and the festival this weekend. It was awesome! The music was great, food was incredible and we left with a fistful of information and a gratifying feeling about being part of something good.
I love coffee and I really love organic coffee (just read my Twitter profile). So I was happy to stroll up to a line of stainless steel urns full of direct, organic, fair trade, dark roast coffee under the Level Ground Trading tent. Once the cheerful folks behind the coffee bar filled my cup, I sought out founder Hugo Ciro to find out more about the company.
Talking to Hugo was inspiring as an entrepreneur, coffee connoisseur and eco-leader. I learned that this is Level Ground’s fifth year as an exhibitor. They enjoyed the festival so much last year that they decided to become title sponsor or “organic champion”.
Level Ground Trading was founded by four Canadian families for the purpose of improving the lives of disadvantaged producers through trade. The company’s first trade relationship was setup through Hugo Ciro with a cooperative of small scale coffee farmers in Antioquia, Colombia.
In 1999, Level Ground moved to its own roasting and packaging facility in Central Saanich (north of Victoria BC). Since then they have roasted more than 1.5 million pounds of coffee. It supplies nearly 1,000 stores across North America with its products and 250 stores across British Columbia.
In 2008 they finally moved to a larger facility where they no longer feel like they’re crammed onto a subway car and the elbow room is greatly appreciated. With a larger facility and larger contracts they stepped up to write and implement more stringent standards and were recently recognized as a organic food processing facility.
Their “nearly zero” waste policy has reduced landfill waste by 90 per cent and won them an Ecostar award in 2005.
What impressed me the most? The strong, bold, yet smooth taste of that cup of Montaño from Bolivia. Mmmm…
By Chris Burdge (BWEST Interactive)
