An Atlanta-based coffee company is changing the way people enjoy their morning cup of coffee. Thrive Farmers has launched a groundbreaking farmer-direct revenue sharing model that allows farmers to participate in the retail market value of their coffee.

Thrive’s business model has served as a ?wake up? call to an industry that continues to put the coffee farmer at risk. In 2012, fair trade coffee sales reached a record breaking $ 4 billion in sales and specialty coffee consumption was at an all-time high. Yet coffee farmers continue to abandon their farms and many who remain barely earn enough to pay their monthly food bill, often working additional jobs.

It was this reality and their personal involvement with the challenges of the coffee supply chain that motivated three men from different walks of life to launch Atlanta-based Thrive Farmers Coffee.

Ken Lander, a retired lawyer turned coffee farmer; Alejandro Garcia, a fifth-generation Costa Rican coffee farmer; and Michael Jones, a seasoned entrepreneur started the company with two goals: to provide consumers with exceptional coffee and to provide a sustainable way for coffee farmers to earn a living.

When Ken Lander first bought his Costa Rican coffee farm in 2005, he grew coffee as a hobby relying on his real estate investments to support his family. But when the financial crisis hit in 2008, he quickly learned how hard it was to survive as a coffee farmer.

At the time, he was part of a fair trade co-op and earned $ 1.30 a pound on coffee that retailed for $ 12 a pound. When he found himself on the verge of not being able to feed his family of six, he looked for a new way to sell coffee.

?While fair trade has done an incredible job of raising public awareness about the plight of the farmer, it still did not give me the ability to earn a sustainable living,? says Lander. That?s when he began roasting and selling his own coffee — first to his friends on Facebook, and then through his coffee shop in Monteverde.

When Lander ran out of beans to sell to his customers, he partnered with Costa Rican coffee farmer Alejandro Garcia. Garcia had just rescued his family farm after working for two years in a buffet-style restaurant in Pennsylvania?s Amish country. He saved $ 40,000 in a shoebox – enough money to buy his own processing equipment and pay off farm debt his father had amassed in the coffee crash of the 90?s. He, too, learned that growing, harvesting, processing and selling his own beans was profitable. Like Lander, he had already begun selling coffee in his own coffee shop when the two met.

As sales continued to grow, they got more local farmers involved. Lack of resources forced them to design a creative model where farmers consigned their coffee without initial payment, and then got a significant portion of the sales proceeds when it sold. This became the foundation of an entirely new economic model in coffee.

?Our customers loved knowing they were buying farmer-direct coffee and that they had a direct impact in helping farmers and communities thrive,? says Garcia. ?We wanted other farmers to benefit from this new model.?

Two years later, Lander and Garcia connected with successful entrepreneur Michael Jones in Atlanta, Georgia. Jones, whose father-in-law is a ?Blue Mountain? coffee farmer in Jamaica, had experience tackling supply chain opportunities when he started Implantable Provider Group (IPG.com) which was named as one of America?s fastest growing companies by INC Magazine in 2008, and ranked fifth on Forbes list of America?s most promising private companies in 2011.

Jones developed a vision for taking the model that Lander and Garcia had piloted in Costa Rica and expanded it in a way that could change lives around the world. He and a group of private investors have put their money behind their vision, investing more than $ 1 million to date. In December 2011, Thrive Farmers Coffee was launched globally.

?Our goal is to offer a truly sustainable solution that allows coffee farmers to become real stakeholders in the crops they produce,? says Jones, co-founder and CEO. ?By selling direct to the consumer and cutting out the middleman, farmers earn upwards of 5 to 10 times more than ?so-called? fair trade models.? Jones added, ?This is possible because of our relentless focus on quality specialty coffee.?

According to the International Coffee Organization, green or unroasted Arabica coffee beans purchased from the typical farmer sold for $ 1.53 a pound in February, 2013. However, the Thrive farmer-direct model aligns the interests of the farmers with the consumer and provides a platform to earn at least 50% of the sale price generated by Thrive.

In 2012, Thrive Farmers sourced 328,000 pounds of coffee grown from Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica out of their Atlanta headquarters. They sell directly to retailers, specialty caf

PRIMITIVE INTERNET DATING FROM COMPUSERVE, 1984


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Pink tickets for 28 shows on the second leg of her Truth About Love tour will go on sale this Saturday, March 30 at 10am. The first set of Pink tour dates in North America kicked-off on Feb 13. Due to overwhelming demand a second set of tour dates was added. The second leg of the tour will make 34 stops, beginning on Oct 10 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California and ending at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia on Dec 14. Pink?s seventh album ?The Truth About Love? was released on Sept 18, 2012, debuted at number one on the Billboard Top 200 and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards

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Last week, SizItUp officially announced of their integration of the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R. Their fitment application guide has been updated to include the latest vehicle models.

The 2012 Volkswagen Golf R has undergone some elegant upgrades when compared to the past GTI models. Under the hood, the Golf R comes standard with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine rated at 256 hp and 243 lb-Ft of torque. Though the 2012 Golf R is a performance car by name, it is also respectably fuel-efficient. It comes with a six-speed manual transmission, and an all-wheel drive.

The 2012 Volkswagen Golf R hatchback houses a very luxurious interior, ideal for intense driving, or casual cruising. The Golf R is offered as a two-door or four-door. Standard features include adaptive xenon headlights, heated mirrors, top quality leather upholstery, and 18-inch wheels.

The last feature should describe size it up?s eagerness to integrate the latest vehicles. The launch of new models mean that people are going to buy rims for those cars online, and rim vendors need to be able to offer the fitment information via their website. Popular models like the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R are going to attract car buyers because of its performance, sporty interior, and standard safety features.

SizeItUp is the sole provider of an ACES compliant fitment database solution, and hence it is very important they stay up to date with the latest releases.

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INDUSTRY ANNOUNCEMENT: Calling All Hair Icons!

Randy Martin Lifetime Achievement Award

WHY?

It?s time for the hair loss industry to be counted and to come together to recognize visionaries who have left lasting impressions on the industry. The ?Randy Martin Lifetime Achievement Award? is a prestigious awards program specifically for the hair loss industry. As the industry evolves, so are great leaders and visionaries who deserve to be recognized and honored.

WHO?

Eligible entrants are hair loss professionals who lead with vision, dedication and passion. The program is open to the public and self-nomination is possible. The selected Award Recipient becomes a Hair Icon and is inducted in the ?Hair Loss Hall of Fame?.

WHEN?

Here is a time line of the Nomination Process:

Entries are received from January 1st to August 31st of each year online and by regular mail
Cut-off date for entries is August 31st of each year
A standing, non-partisan Nomination Committee of five professional members starts the review of entries on September 1st of each year
Final selection is made on September 30st of each year
Official announcement of the winner is made on October 1st of each year

WHAT?

The following pointers are what the Nomination Committee is looking for in a Hair Icon:

reputable profile within the industry
significant career achievements
dedication to life-long learning
inspiration for peers and associates
engagement in community service
great vision and aspiration for the future
lasting legacy to share

HOW?

The nomination is made by a standing, non-partisan Nomination Committee. To submit your entry, please visit http://www.thehairicons.com or send it by regular mail to:

The Hair Icons

5827 Corporate Way

West Palm Beach, FL 33407

For more information, call 800-359-4247 ext. 302.

ATMOS Global Pty Ltd ? Elite Atmospheric Air Quality Modelling & Forecasting and Climate Change Research Consultants ? launches globally its revolutionary Air Quality and Climate Change Academy

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