Port City Java, Full Belly Project team up to help coffee bean farmers

Two local organizations have joined forces for an international project.

Port City Java has teamed up with the Full Belly Project to use their nut sheller to shell coffee beans.

The goal is to use the sheller to produce more coffee for the company, while improving the life for coffee bean farmers in developing nations.

"You're able to see here in Wilmington two organizations that collaborated to bring a product, to the local people, but it's huge its international," said Jeff Rose, Full Belly Executive Director.

Port City Java CEO Steven Schnitzler said, "The opportunity to go beyond Fair Trade, Fair Trade organizations, is to help these farmers out. This goes to a whole other level. It is allows farmers to get this simple technology, use them, and for us to buy directly from them."

Using the nut sheller, farmers can shell 125 pounds of coffee beans an hour, by removing the sun dried pulp that seals the coffee bean into it's hard casing.