Mauro Pérez Bustamante and Grimaldina Guevara Calderón, a coffee producing couple and both members of a Fair Trade Certified™ coffee cooperative, pose with their son, Ivan Pérez Guevara, in the coffee field they own and manage.

Fair Trade USA™ Named a Finalist in Global Challenge to Advance Nature Intelligence for Small Businesses

We are proud to announce that Fair Trade USA has been selected as a Finalist in the Nature Intelligence for Business Grand Challenge, run by the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD), Conservation X Labs, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The Grand Challenge supports innovative solutions that help small businesses understand and integrate nature-related risks and opportunities into decision-making.  

Across the globe, smallholder farmers face intensifying climate risks: unpredictable rainfall, rising temperatures, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss, yet often lack the resources and tools to respond. We are building solutions that help small and medium-sized agricultural businesses understand and manage their nature-related risks, opportunities, impacts, and dependencies.  

Fair Trade USA is piloting a practical, step-by-step methodology that translates TNFD’s Locate, Evaluate, Assess, and Prepare (LEAP) framework into a format accessible for small and medium agricultural businesses, starting with coffee cooperatives in Colombia. Building on our long-term partnerships with coffee cooperatives and supply chain partners, this pilot will support farmers in combining environmental datasets with local and Indigenous knowledge to better understand nature-related risks and opportunities within their landscapes.  

Fair Trade USA’s on-the-ground Producer Services team will support participating cooperatives to translate complex environmental information into clear, actionable insights by:  

• Identifying key nature dependencies and impacts of their farms as well as risks and opportunities for their businesses

• Establishing baseline indicators related to biodiversity, soil health, tree cover, and water use  

• Prioritizing practical actions that strengthen farm resilience and landscape health  

This initiative empowers farmers to anticipate risks, adopt climate-smart practices, communicate achievements to buyers and funders, and future-proof their livelihoods and supply chains. Producers will gain insights that strengthen decision-making to protect the long-term productivity of coffee-growing landscapes. 

At Fair Trade USA, this work builds on our existing certification model while deepening how we support producers. Keeping pace with our changing world is a top priority, and we are constantly working to ensure that our model is elevating producer voices and expertise. When farmers have access to the tools, data, and partnerships they need, they can advance incredible, future-changing work. We are honored to be considered as finalists in the challenge and look forward to continuing our work in building strong, thriving futures for producers around the globe.