Photography and text by Craig Hull
High in the northern Andes of Peru, in the remote highland regions of Piura, Cajamarca, and Amazonas, smallholder farmers cultivate one of the world’s most valuable crops—coffee—on plots of land no larger than a few hectares. This documentary project follows the full journey of that coffee, from soil to shipment, through the eyes of the people who grow, process, and depend on it.
These communities, often isolated by geography and infrastructure, live modestly but are deeply rooted in tradition and cooperation. Their lives are shaped by altitude, weather, and the seasonal rhythm of planting, harvesting, and drying. I spent time among these families—photographing weathered hands sorting beans, wood-fired stoves warming fog-bound homes, and communal drying patios built with care and precision. Children play between sacks of parchment coffee. Every image is a reflection of a quiet resilience often overlooked in the global conversation.
What makes this system unique is the cooperative model that binds these communities together. Many of the farmers I met are members of CEPICAFE, a pioneering fair trade and organic-certified organization established in Piura in 1995. CEPICAFE—and its umbrella network CENFROCAFE—offers far more than market access. It provides technical training, sustainable farming guidance, educational support, and financial tools that help stabilize families against volatile prices and uncertain futures.
Rather than sending beans through exploitative middlemen, these cooperatives have built a processing factory in Lima, where coffee is hulled, graded, and prepared for export. This means that the value of the product stays closer to the source—and farmers keep a greater share of the profit.
But this project is not about economics alone. It’s about people and place—the fog rolling through coffee trees at dawn, the pride in a perfect roast, the dignity in labor done well. Behind every cup are communities who have carved out autonomy in a system designed to keep them invisible.
These photographs offer a window into that world—a story of resilience, collaboration, and the long path from the mountains of Peru to the global morning ritual.
