Sustainable Harvest at Origin/Mexico & Central America
Jorge Cuevas
Trade Operations Director
Jorge Cuevas directs Sustainable Harvest's supply-development
division, Sustainable Origins. Jorge oversees new business
development from both the roaster and grower sides. He also
coordinates supplier relationships from all four Sustainable
Harvest at Origins regional offices to find the most suitable
markets and roaster partners for coffee growers.
Jorge has extensive experience in building organizations within the specialty coffee industry. Previous to his work with Sustainable Harvest, Jorge developed the organizational structure for La Trinidad Pluma cooperative and founded a non-profit agency, FOMCAFE, to provide the growers with technical assistance. Jorge also co-founded PRECOX, an organic dry coffee mill in Etla, Oaxaca, and created the export firm Rainforest Trading Company. In October 2002, Jorge stepped out of his leadership and ownership positions with these Mexico-based ventures in order to focus on Sustainable Harvest at Origins. The division has offices in Mexico, Peru, Rwanda, and Tanzania and provides farmer training and support in over a dozen coffee producing countries.
Jorge has served on the Sustainability Committee of the Specialty Coffee Association of America and is an active participant on the FairTrade Forums and Amigos del Cafe program. Jorge has a degree in International Studies from the School for International Training. He speaks English, Spanish, and French.
Oscar Canseco Magro
Quality Control Manager
Oscar manages the quality control systems for all of
Sustainable Harvest's coffee cupping evaluations. Prior to
joining Sustainable Harvest, Oscar designed and implemented
technology-based organic coffee control systems for farmer
cooperatives in Mexico and several other Latin American
countries. In addition, Oscar has worked in corporate image
design for several organizations in Oaxaca, has served as
network manager for a local ISP, and has done IT consulting.
Oscar has a degree in Information Technology and a Masters in
Computer Science from Guadalajara Autonomous University in
Mexico.
He speaks English, Spanish, and French.
Midori Niikura
Relationship Coffee Manager
Midori is the Relationship Coffee Manager for our Japanese
clients and currently coordinates Sustainable Harvest's
annual training event, Let's Talk Coffee. She also contributs
to our farmer training programs by researching and piloting
new projects for organic compost in South America.
Originally from Japan, Midori grew up in Colombia, Ecuador, and the United States. She has also studied extensively in Costa Rica and Chile, and has worked with coffee growers in Peru and Guatemala. Her extensive international experiences led her to study the fair trade movement and its effects on the future of coffee.
Prior to joining Sustainable Harvest, Midori organized voting registration for immigrant communities in Los Angeles and facilitated cross-cultural communications in Japan.
She speaks English, Spanish, and Japanese.
Clemente Santiago Paz
Chief Agronomist
Clemente@sustainableharvest.com
Clemente acts as Sustainable Harvest’s Chief Agronomist,
where he fortalizes the relationships between Sustainable
Harvest and producers in Mexico and Central America and
provides farmer training and support.
Clemente has been working in coffee for the past twelve years. Before joining Sustainable Harvest, he produced organic and fair trade coffee in Oaxaca, Mexico, and as a consultant for various indigenous coffee-producing communities.
In 2001, he became an accredited inspector of agricultural products and processes under the regulations of the European Union, the National Organic Program, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and equivalent standards of IMO, Naturland, and Certimex. Clemente studied agricultural engineering with a specitalty in Agro-ecosystems. He also holds a Coffee Diploma from the Autonomous University of Chapingo, and a Diploma in Occupational Training.
Isabel Cerqueda Garcia
Quality Control and Chief Sample Roaster
Chabela@sustainableharvest.com
"Chabela" works in our Mexico office as our chief sample
roaster and administrative assistant. She also cups samples
daily in the quality control department, and maintains
communications between Mexican growers and roasters.
Chabela was born in the Mazateca mountains, and is one of the few ingenous Mazateca women in the world trained in coffee roasting and cupping.
She speaks Mazteco and Spanish.
