In the 1700s Haiti produced over 85% of the worlds coffee production. That was quite a long time ago, but even in the 1960s,

reports show over half of the worlds coffee consumption came from Haiti. After dictators closed the ports, and extreme

deforestation, Haiti produces only about 10-20 containers a year of coffee. Haiti now at 65% unemployment and this project was

initiated to create sustainable employment using specialty grade organic coffee for as many individuals in poverty as possible.

The President of the main cooperative, Frances, was a physics professor in Port Au Prince, before moving to the North Region to

grow coffee. He, along with 8 others, founded this cooperative COPAOVD in the 1980s. Using a filtration system, they utilize

water from a local mountain river, wash the coffee, and filter the acidity out before cycling the water back into the river. These

individuals are proud of being one of the only areas in Haiti with tree cover, and they plant roughly 5% other diverse species of

plants along with their coffee to maintain that canopy and biodiversity.