The future of agricultural farming communities is growing increasingly uncertain as farmers — especially in women-led communities like the tea region of Kumaon, India — face economic challenges, an ongoing pandemic, and the hard realities of climate change that degrade the soil, priming it for landslides during monsoon season. 

To address this growing vulnerability, Frontier Co-op is establishing a tea processing facility in Kumaon, in partnership with USAID’s Cooperative Development Program and Young Mountain Tea. Local farmers will hold an ownership stake in the new venture, which will not only provide economic benefits to the farmers and their communities, but also help ensure they're more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

Frontier Co-op's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Manager, Alicia Simmons, and Creative Director, Dawn Prudence, traveled to India to engage with the Kumaon tea growers and document some of the work on this collaborative venture.... 

Trip Report: Champawat Tea Makers — December, 2022

A twenty-hour flight, an eight-hour train ride, and a four-hour drive. That’s what it took our team to reach the small town of Champawat in northern India. Tucked into the foothills of the Himalayas, this little town is steeped in culture, tradition and history. 

Our team started each morning of our trip with a walk around town while we sipped tea and excitedly discussed the potential social and economic impacts of our project. Every chilly morning of this December trip, we’d wander a bit farther, taking in the fresh mountain air tinged with the smell of wood fires and spices, the sounds of children beginning their school day, and men ambling toward work as the town slowly began to stir.

By late morning, all the street vendors would be out. The air would fill with the smell of freshly fried jilabei and samosas, and we would find ourselves suddenly surrounded by the most beautiful and vibrant colors — bowls of spices, herbs, and roots, and endless bolts of colorful fabrics. 

On one of these morning walks, we realized that in the middle of this amalgamation of beautiful colors, smells, and flavors, just two-hundred yards from our hotel sat the 1,000-year-old Baleshwar Temple — dedicated to Lord Shiva by the Chand Dynasty who once ruled Kumaon. It was a striking juxtaposition to the bustling street just below, but one that embodied the complex identity of this small town, and the people in it — full of pride in their history and their culture, and defined most for me by the warm kindness and generosity of spirit of every person we met. 

Trip Report: Champawat Tea Makers — December, 2022
A twenty-hour flight, an eight-hour train ride, and a four-hour drive. That’s what it took our team to reach the small town of Champawat in northern India. Tucked into the foothills of the Himalayas, this little town is steeped in culture, tradition and history. 

Our team started each morning of our trip with a walk around town while we sipped tea and excitedly discussed the potential social and economic impacts of our project. Every chilly morning of this December trip, we’d wander a bit farther, taking in the fresh mountain air tinged with the smell of wood fires and spices, the sounds of children beginning their school day, and men ambling toward work as the town slowly began to stir.

After our tea-plucking lesson, we all headed up to the house for our meeting. While we waited for the last of the group to arrive, the women shared a beautiful folk song. 

Once everyone had arrived, we sat on the ground along with our non-profit partners and shared our plans for the Champawat Tea Makers Private Ltd. — a new entity created in partnership with USAID Cooperative Development Program and Young Mountain Tea that will soon be receiving the farmers’ harvested tea leaves, processing them, and selling the product onto the global market. Most importantly, we explained, this entity will be one that the farmers themselves will have an ownership stake in, providing not only economic opportunity in the form of increased prices for their harvest, but ultimately dividends through a Farmer Trust. Moreover, an ownership stake in this entity will mean more transparency for them in selling their crop, and more autonomy in determining their working hours and conditions.

The farmers listened carefully, and mostly quietly, as they took in the information. By the end of the meeting, there was a tangible feeling of cautious excitement about the new venture, and many, many questions. Our non-profit partners dutifully took down the farmers’ inquiries, promising to return the next month with answers and more information. As the sun set, we made our way back down the mountain to our little hotel in Champawat, where we debriefed from the day, worked out responses to the farmers’ questions, and formulated a communication plan for the next trip.

This project — the first farmer-owned tea processing facility in India — is a labor of love for all partners involved. Raj Vable, our partner at Young Mountain Tea, has spent much of the last 18 months buried in the legal, logistical, and accounting steps required to set up a new business entity in a different country.  Our plant manager, consultants, and non-profit partners at origin have spent countless hours in that time developing plans for the Farmer Trust, working out blueprints and floorplans for the facility, and formulating financial, governance, and operational trainings for the farmers. It’s a heavy lift for everyone, but each one of us is linked and motivated by our shared connection to our purpose, and the potential impact of the work.

In this beautiful rural farming community, history is not only celebrated, it’s a part of their identity. It’s something precious that needs to be preserved, but as the region continues to struggle economically — due in part to climate change and urban migration — it’s at risk of being lost. Similarly to farming communities in the U.S., there’s little incentive for young adults to remain in these small towns or the rural farming villages surrounding them. Socioeconomic and environmental risks associated with climate change negatively impact these families, and without the structure in place to protect them long-term, they and the culture that they have protected and fostered for so long, will disappear.

This trip was one I will truly never forget. Beyond the beauty of the region, the unique and genuine beauty of the people we met, their kindness and immeasurable generosity of spirit will stick with me always. Spending a week in the mountains at origin with these partners reminded me exactly why we are so committed to this idea of ‘doing good,’ and the real-life impact that our work can have in the lives of families halfway around the world. Over the next two years, we will continue to bring this new entity to life, and look forward to sharing some of the beautiful teas coming from the region with our member-owners and consumers. We hope you’ll continue to share in our journey.

— Alicia Simmons, CSR Manager