Yes and no. Some of our coffees are Certified Organic. But even when it’s not, pesticides are not used by the farmers we work with.
USDA Organic Certification is a United States practice. This isn’t to say that coffee farmers around the world can’t apply, but it’s an expensive thing to ask of a small farmer in a country with a different economy than ours. Often times, even if a farmer qualities to be certified, they cannot afford the expense.
Other places in the world like Canada, Japan, and the EU have their own organic certifications which add to the likelihood that farmers will choose no organic certification rather than one or all.
Additionally, certifications sometimes require farms to buy Certified Organic materials when they may be able to make them. Most of the farmers we work with produce their own organic fertilizer and are opposed to the use of pesticides as they can harm water and potential affect quality. That’s the most important thing to us.
We are not opposed to organic certification and still buy Certified Organic coffee from time to time but we feel the most important consideration is to have an understanding of how a farm grows their product, given the many economies that coffee exists in.