CAN is a U.S. based non-profit organization. Our mission is to develop a network of rural communities and U.S. consumers to support self-sufficiency and sustainable farming practices. Farmers and consumers working together CAN make a difference.

Through our website you CAN: order coffee directly from the farmers; learn about internships living and working with farm families in Latin America; become a CAN member and help support community-based programs in the CAN network.

Professional Coffee Review!

March 9th, 2008

Renowned coffee cupper Ken Davids reviewed Las Brumas brand coffee from the CoopePueblos Cooperative in Costa Rica. This coffee brought to you through CAN's fair trade direct market!

"At this roast level a coffee as fresh and pure as morning on the farm."

Read more...

9th International Agroecology Shortcourse

Yucatan, Mexico June 29-July 12, 2008
Traditional Knowledge, Sustainable Rural Development, and Global Change

The International Agroecology Shortcourse, combining theory with practice seeks to have participants develop their conceptual, methodological, and instrumental capacities to incorporate foundations of agroecology in the design and execution of programs and practices of sustainable rural development, taking into consideration the challenges that traditional knowledge faces before global change. The course will be organized together with the Department of Management and Conservation of Natural Resources at the Independent University of the Yucatan (PROTROPICO), the agroecology group of the Department of Environmental Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), the non-profit organization Proenlaces, Heifer International, and the non-profit organization Community Agroecology Network.

For more information click here

CAN Founders and Researchers Edit New Book on Coffee Crisis

CAN Researchers Chris Bacon, Ernesto Mendez, and Steve Gliessman along with David Goodman and Jonathan Fox have published Confronting the Coffee Crisis Fair Trade, Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystems in Mexico and Central America. (Published by MIT Press February 2008)

Confronting the Coffee Crisis explores small-scale farming, the political economy of the global coffee industry, and initiatives that claim to promote more sustainable rural development in coffee-producing communities. Contributors review the historical, political, economic, and agroecological processes within today’s coffee industry and analyze the severely depressed export market that faces small-scale growers in Mexico and Central America. The book presents a series of interdisciplinary, empirically rich case studies showing how small-scale farmers manage ecosystems and organize collectively as they seek useful collaborations with international NGOs and coffee companies to create opportunities for themselves in the coffee market.

Included in the book is a case study on CAN which can be downloaded by clicking here.

Field Study Internship Handbook

August 23, 2007

This 165-page handbook engages University students in preparations for field internships in CAN's partner communities as well as providing interns with enrichment activities and follow-up resources. This handbook can be adapted for use by anyone interested in teaching and learning about issues of globalization, agroecology and sustainable food systems, biodiversity, and social location. Learn more about CAN's Field Internship Program and download an electronic version of the Handbook.