Dean Cyron ’75 is the founder and CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee Company, a certified 100% organic, fair trade, and kosher coffee roasting operation in Orange, MA.
You may recognize these beans from dining halls around campus–the College has used Dean’s Beans as its main coffee supplier for over 30 years. Dean gave a Log Lunch talk about his corporation, which he says is better described as a “fully integrated social justice organization,” allowing farmers to manage their own farms. At Dean’s Beans, farmers’ priorities come first, in order to keep from worsening the oppression they already face in these developing countries.
In Sumatra, endangered species are a huge concern for the company. Dean called our attention to palm plantations in particular are wiping out orangutans, the only species that eats palm: “If an orangutan shows up in a palm plant, he gets shot,” said Dean, emphasizing the destruction caused by palm oil farms. Other species are forced up into the mountains, where they come into contact with humans, where they may be shot or even stolen as babies to become someone’s pet.
Dean’s Beans is committed to activism, environmental protection, and sustainable economic growth in the countries that supply the means for its economic growth.
—Jane Tekin ’19