Creating Community
So, what do we mean by The Tukã Difference? The simple answer is that it all comes back to our farmers ~ our Tukadores. Our commitment to them, and their commitment to us. Not just for one harvest, but for a decade of harvests and more. It’s about creating a company, a community, where together we can carry forward the traditions of the past while capitalizing on the future. And, yes, that does mean making money for every stakeholder along the way. From the farmer to the investor, to the shipper, to the end user, then some. But just as importantly, we’ll be making a difference by empowering a farming community that too often has struggled under the weight of its industrialized competitors and at times has fallen prey to expediency…to farming crops with a shorter life cycle in order to try to make ends meet. And in the process, just maybe we can help our farmers preserve a way of life for their children and future generations, and, in so doing, stem their forced exodus from home in search of employment.
This long-view, relationship-based approach is a key component of our company philosophy, and in fact has precedent. Jim Costello, one of our founders and current Chairman of the Board, has a group of private investors who have participated in a number of his projects over a period spanning more than 40 years. This history helped to inform Tukã’s internal ethics and policies ~ that we are inextricably linked to our Tukadores who have tied their futures to ours by providing us with a 10-year exclusive right to purchase their product, and it is up to us to responsibly nurture this relationship, never forgetting that the decisions we make and the actions we take have an immediate and direct impact on the lives of our farmers and their families. Creating Community is The Tukã Difference, and is manifested in the social, educational and economic benefits available to our farmers through Club Tukã and the Tukã Academy.
