Hillkoff bought organic parchment coffee from farmers in Omkoi District, Chiang Mai, across four subdistricts — Sop Khong, Na Kian, Yang Piang and Mae Tuen — an area supported by the Highland Research and Development Institute (Public Organization), HRDI.
This year Hillkoff bought more than 26 tonnes of organic parchment coffee, worth more than 6 million baht. It shows what highland farmers can achieve in producing quality organic coffee that serves both environmental conservation and a premium coffee market that cares about quality, origin and sustainable production.
Coffee from Omkoi grows in an environmentally friendly farming system that keeps the ecosystem of the watershed in balance while giving highland communities a stable income — a key foundation for sustainable community economies.
Another strength of Omkoi is its strong community, built by local leaders who organised the farmers systematically. What began as household coffee growing has become the “Omkoi Organic Coffee Growers Community Enterprise”, which the members manage together effectively.
Working as a group has brought real progress: sharing knowledge on coffee quality, a better understanding of harvesting, selecting the crop and handling it properly after harvest, and setting up a system for collecting the crop and controlling quality at community level.
The Eco Brand “Khon Dee Phuen Thi Sung” (Good People of the Highlands) certification from HRDI is more than a product label. It reflects the values and intentions of people along the whole supply chain — growers, collectors, communities, supporting agencies and downstream businesses — who together drive Thai coffee forward on a foundation of social and environmental responsibility.
Omkoi's transition therefore does more than raise the quality of the community's coffee. It shows the community's ability to manage its own resources effectively, and its readiness to move confidently into the market for quality, environmentally friendly coffee.
