David killed Goliath with just one stone, according to the Bible. But Casey Burnett did the unthinkable: hitting two birds with one stone. His two initiatives don’t only uplift the standard of living of coffee farmers but also help abandoned Filipino children.
Burnett, an American national, came to the Philippines as part of the Nehemiah Teams, a mission group under the International Mission Board. In 2010, he started his first small coffee mill in Butuan City, where he met Judith. The two got married and he brought his wife to the United States where they operated Cup of Hope of Coffee for about five years.
The couple took a break from coffee for a couple of years until “God had put on our hearts to start a children’s home for abandoned children in the Philippines.” In those years that followed, they built up businesses that could support themselves financially.
In the beginning of 2023, the Burnetts returned to the country and settled in Bukidnon after they started No Longer Abandoned, a US non-profit organization which would help support the ministry. The Philippine foundation which partners with No Longer Abandoned is called Solid Rock Children Development Foundation, Inc., which works with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in providing housing for abandoned children.
But that’s going ahead of the story. Let’s start with coffee, which he is very familiar with. “Coffee is one of the businesses I first learned about when I lived in China, then moved to the Philippines back in 2010,” he recalls.
When he was assigned in Butuan City, he started his first coffee mill in barangay MJ Santos and traded Robusta coffee, which he bought from farmers in Agusan del Norte. “One of the things that I liked about having a buying station and coffee mill was that we were able to impact the lives of so many people by just helping create the supply chain,” he says. “At the end of the day, farmers want to know that they have a stable buyer, so the challenge is to make sure you have access to enough money to continue to buy.”
Based on that experience, Burnett thought of using coffee as an entry to reach the community in the area where they are now living. He says coffee is much better to grow than other crops.
“One advantage of coffee is you can dry and store it,” he says. “Fruits and vegetables may bring a good market price, but being able to store coffee is like storing gold or saving dollars; it’s a good store of value.”
The Philippines is embracing the burgeoning global coffee trend, with coffee shops proliferating at a remarkable pace, almost matching or even exceeding the number of fast food establishments. In addition, grocery stores and retail markets are filled with a diverse array of coffee-related products. Unfortunately, local production is inadequate to satisfy the rising demand.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that in 2020, the national production of dried coffee cherries reached 60,640.95 metric tons (MT), which fell short of the local demand estimated at 198,720 metric tons. Consequently, the country resorts to importing coffee to satisfy this demand.
According to the PSA, the majority of coffee cultivation and harvesting occurs in Mindanao. As of 2023, the leading coffee-producing provinces included Sultan Kudarat (21,442 MT), Bukidnon (9,042 MT), Davao del Sur (8,190 MT), Davao de Oro (4,346 MT), Maguindanao (4,269 MT), Sulu (3,563 MT), and Basilan (3,222 MT).
Last year, Burnett launched the Bukidnon Coffee Exchange (BUKAPEX) with the aim of providing the highest quality local coffee in the province.
“Using our background in agriculture and community development, our business goal is to help coffee farmers make more money by creating and strengthening cooperatives,” he explains.
Right now, they have a privately owned full-service coffee mill and roasting facility. “We buy from three main cooperatives, and we have done growing contracts with these groups,” he says.
The contract stipulates that the groups make sure they have liquidity to buy coffee for the harvest season and BUKAPEX gets a good price by buying early. “The cooperatives can use the money to buy coffee, and they can sell to us at ‘spot’ price which will typically be higher than the contract price,” he explains. “It’s a win-win for both parties, and I think a better deal than a shady lender.”
BUKAPEX is also helping to start a cooperative in the town of Pangantucan to increase coffee production in that area. “We are currently helping build more solar dryers to increase the drying capacity during harvest,” Burnett says. “The biggest bottleneck this year is not the available coffee, but the available post-harvest drying space available.”
BUKAPEX will help setup a lease on about 15 hectares of farmland in the Pangantucan area for Arabica production soon. “This will be leased by Solid Rock Children Development Foundation and all of that coffee will be produced and sold to create annual revenue to support the children’s homes.”
According to Burnett, the Philippines is one of the few countries in the world where the four types of coffee can be grown. “For us, we just focus on Arabica and Robusta,” he says. “Of the Arabica, the cultivars are typically Catimor (commercial grade typically, but more disease resistant), Bourbon, Typica, and some Ethiopian Landrace (sweet coffee).”
There is a high demand for locally-produced Arabica. “The Philippines consumes much more coffee than is grown, therefore, farmers can get higher than the world market prices if the quality is right,” he says. “There is no need to export.”
Coffee production is very labor intensive. “Traditionally, coffee is harvested and the entire coffee berries are dried to around 12% to 13% moisture content,” Burnett says. “Coffee is usually dried on the road or near the ground and it absorbs whatever odor is near it. Once it rains, they cover it with a tarp until the sun comes out and then continues to dry it. This is the most common method and this is one of the reasons why the coffee quality is poor.”
Right now, BUKAPEX has organized an initial meeting with the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) to begin forming the cooperative with the Pangantucan farmers. “We have also helped build one additional solar dryer, and in the coming months we should start building another 6-8 solar dryers. This will greatly increase the output of high quality coffee.”
This is only their first year of mill operation and production varies. “I am going to try to keep 2-3 tons in stock by the end of the year, but I would estimate for the entire area, probably 40-50 tons this year for Arabica, and maybe another 80-150 tons of Robusta,” he says.
The process of selling coffee is relatively straightforward. “All of our Green and Roasted Coffee is available for purchase via our BUKAPEX Facebook page,” Burnett says. “We offer nationwide shipping and have had numerous customers discover our coffee and take it overseas. Our goal is to begin exporting once we reach sufficient volume. Bukidnon produces exceptional coffees, and it is essential for the world to become aware of them!”
According to Burnett, Bukidnon Coffee Exchange has four main purposes. For one, he wants to create revenue for the Solid Rock Children Foundation. For another, he wants to create stable jobs, hopefully in the future for their graduating students. Another reason: to become the regional Arabica processing hub. And finally, he wants to create a supply chain for the entire province to promote and market Bukidnon coffees.
By “graduating students,” he is referring to abandoned Filipino children. “The Philippines has over two million abandoned children, not to mention all of the runaways, internally displaced children, etc.,” he says. “Think of all the children we pass by when we go eat at a restaurant, how many of those children are on their own? Have you stopped to talk to them to get their story? How many of these girls have run away to escape being forced into marriage? It would shock you some of the things these children go through.”
Most of these abandoned children, he surmises, “are the most vulnerable to sex trafficking, gangs, drug use, and hopelessness, among others. It’s easy to blame the government, or parents of the children, but if we are Christian people, it’s up to us to do something.”
So, how do they help these abandoned children? “Being a foreigner, I can’t just go and pick kids off of the street,” Burnett says. “We have spent the last two years setting up the foundation, buying a property, and getting the certificate of occupancy, hiring a social worker and staff to care for children under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) guidelines.”
After all of the requirements are met, “our social workers can take in children that the DSWD needs to help find shelter for. Our first home will be a temporary shelter for girls, ages 12-18, and we will cover all costs for food, education, and medicine, among others.
“We are big believers in healthy routines,” he continues. “We will make sure the girls sit down and eat a meal in a family environment every day. The routine of being able to sit down and talk about the day in a family structure helps bring stability to children. We’ll do an educational assessment of each of the children to make an individual plan to help the children get caught up in school.”
Christian ethics are also part of it. “We will have daily prayer time and Bible study,” Burnett says. “This helps children know how valuable they are to God, and also helps them see their own self-worth. We will also teach vocational and entrepreneurship skills through all of these small businesses that we start.”
The overall goal is to treat these children like their own. “The goal of any parent is to help their children to grow up to be strong,” he says. “We don’t want victims graduating through our programs, we want survivors to graduate with confidence to face the world, and to have healthy families going forward.”
On how he balances his initiative (coffee) and cause (abandoned children), he replies, “We actually mix them together. Everything we do is ‘hands-on.’ We demonstrate the value of hard work, and have the kids work with us if they are not in school. ‘Work’ is a loose term for kids, right now they are just sorting coffee beans, just like my own small children. It’s a small task but they will learn to show up, work hard, and then they will pick up additional job skills as they go along.”
