In 2016, our farmer partners at the Honduran cooperative COMSA launched something remarkable: the Diplomado Orgánico, a week-long intensive training program designed to teach innovative organic farming techniques to small-scale coffee farmers. But the program goes well beyond agronomy. It invites farmers to see their work within a broader context — the health of their ecosystem, the wellbeing of their communities, and the full length of the coffee supply chain that connects growers to the people who drink their coffee every morning.
Since its founding, several dozen farmers and technical support staff from our partner cooperatives have gone through the program, bringing its lessons home and sharing them with fellow growers. The ripple effect has been real and measurable: a deepening commitment to organic agriculture and consistently higher quality in the harvests that follow.
Nine Cooperatives Heading to Honduras in 2026
This year, the Co-op Coffees Impact Fund is proud to support farmers and staff from nine cooperatives attending the 2026 Diplomado Orgánico:
- ANEI and COSURCA from Colombia
- CAC Pangoa and Norandino from Peru
- Chajulense and Manos Campesinas from Guatemala
- Las Diosas from Nicaragua
- Maya Vinic and Triunfo Verde from Mexico
Each participant will return home not just with new skills, but with a renewed sense of purpose and connection — and the responsibility to pass that knowledge forward to fellow farmers in their cooperative.
How the Coffee You Buy Funds the Work
The Co-op Coffees Impact Fund — operated by Co-op Coffees, the green-coffee importing cooperative Sweetwater belongs to — is financed by a three-cent premium we pay on every pound of green coffee we purchase. That premium funds climate adaptation, soil health, and training projects like the Diplomado Orgánico at the cooperatives that grow our coffee.
In practical terms: every bag of Sweetwater coffee you buy plays a direct role in making programs like the Diplomado Orgánico possible. We are deeply grateful for your support and solidarity — because growing better coffee, and building a more just and sustainable food system, truly is a collective effort.If you would like to explore the coffees that come from the cooperatives heading to Honduras this year, you can browse our single origins or read more about each cooperative on our Trading Partners page.