The subject of sustainability has been widely debated around the world. In recent years, we can enumerate several initiatives that aim to highlight practical solutions for a sustainable planet. One was the Sustainable Sourcing Agricultural Supply Chain – translating into Portuguese, “Cadeia de Abastecimento Suatentável na Agricultura”. This is a forum held in London capital of England, on the first week of December/2009. The event was attended by representatives from various parts of the world. Among them was the CEO of Coocafé, Fernando de Cerqueira Romeiro, representing small producers in Brazil. Fernando was one of the speakers at the event. He presented the lecture about “Co-operative – the Best Way to Sustainable Coffee Culture”. At the time, Fernando explained about the reality, both culturally and socio-economic, of the cooperative Coocafé and highlighted the main solutions to the strengthening of small farmers in the region. In addition to delivering the speech, the president of Coocafé composed the table for discussions, which were attended by representatives of multinationals such as Starbucks, Unilever and PepsiCo, and representatives of producers in other countries.

Undoubtedly, actions like this forum – and many others who share the same ideology – are fundamental to the socioeconomic development of countries, especially those that are in development, such as Brazil. However, as correctly highlighted the president of Coocafé in discussions, “it is necessary that companies view social responsibility as a constant, because the results, in most cases will come in the long term.”