Fair Trade, Carbon Neutral Rum – Woohoo!!

Not to sound like a total ad for this rum, but their dedication to the environment, their workers and community is pretty impressive:

In 2017, Flor de Caña became Fair Trade certified (by U.S.-based organization Fair Trade USA), assuring consumers that the rum is sustainably produced in compliance with over 300 rigorous labour, social and environmental standards. Further raising the bar on sustainability for the global spirits industry, in April 2020 Flor de Caña became carbon neutral certified (by U.K.-based organization Carbon Trust), after demonstrating the brand offsets all carbon emissions during the entire production process of the rum, from field to bottle

Flor de Caña rums are aged naturally, for up to 30 years, at the base of the San Cristóbal volcano

With the environment contributing so much to the quality of the distillery’s line-up of premium rums, the company has been implementing a series sustainable practices for a while. Since 2005, in an effort to protect wildlife and water resources, the company has planted 50,000 trees every year in the region surrounding the distillery. For more than a decade, it has distilled its rums using 100% renewable energy generated from biomass, eliminating its dependency on fossil fuels. It also captures and recycles all CO2 emissions generated during the fermentation process, which are then sold to breweries and soft drinks industries in the region.

Flor de Caña’s efforts to lead the way as a sustainable brand go beyond its care for the environment, it also includes its employees and the community. Since 1913, Flor de Caña has offered free education to the children of employees at the company school, and since 1958, the brand has provided free healthcare to employees and their families at the company hospital.

Flor de Caña has also been the main donor of APROQUEN for almost 30 years, a non-profit that has provided over 600,000 free medical services to children suffering from burns or from cleft lip and palate, and for more than 15 years the brand has proudly supported the non-profit American Nicaraguan Foundation in working to alleviate poverty in Nicaragua through various social programs.

Farmer to Farmer Program Spearheading Agroecology Efforts in Nicaragua

Carmen Herrera writes about a program in Nicaragua which “encourages an appreciation of local knowledge to reestablish food sovereignty. ”

In an area carved into small farms known as minifundios, where each lot measures 0.75 to 1.5 Ha (1.8 to 3.7 acres), participants in the project called Farmer to Farmer (Campesino a Campesino) are spearheading agroecology efforts in Nicaragua. Crop diversification is one method for which small-scale farmers are using their skills and creativity to “take advantage of the soil,” said Leonel Calero, an 18-year veteran of agroecology practices and program promoter in El Mojón, about 37 kilometers (22 miles) from Managua, in the municipality of Catarina, Masaya.

They are employing new techniques rather than burning the land, and use crop residue and weeds to their advantage, Calero explained. “It’s a matter of conscience, to understand the earth needs care, that it can die but it can also live if we treat it well,” he said. “Everything is in nature as long as we use those resources from our farm and from our communities.”

Eco-farm Tourism Helps Local Economy

From an article by Claire Luke in the Nicaragua Dispatch:

As Nicaragua continues to make a name for itself as an international travel destination, the country’s old and new economies are joining forces in the mountains of Matagalpa for a unique brand of coffee-farm ecotourism. Many fincas that were once dedicated exclusively to coffee production are now expanding their operations to include hotels, farm-to-table restaurants, research stations, bird-watching tours, nature hikes and other family fun that allows visitors to experience how a traditional farm works. The embrace of eco-farm tourism is opening a new door of economic opportunity in an area that didn’t get too many outside visitors before.

“People here didn’t know the word tourism when we started,” said Lonna Harkrader, who with her husband Richard founded Finca Villa Esperanza Verde on an abandoned coffee farm in San Ramón, Matagalpa, in 1998. “Now, we have artists who can sell their paintings and crafts to tourists, cooks and jewelry makers who offer classes to visitors, and dancers and musicians who can share their skills.”