Category: Markets

Knocking on Coffee’s Door: Cocoa’s Case as a Coffee Farm Alternative

2016-04-22 Comments Off on Knocking on Coffee’s Door: Cocoa’s Case as a Coffee Farm Alternative

In previous Coffeelands posts we have written about the importance of diversifying smallholder coffee farms as a hedge against falling coffee prices, low coffee productivity resulting from disease (such as coffee leaf rust) and other factors. Diversification into other crops such as nuts, plantains and fruit, among others, also helps to ensure that a farmer […]

SCAA Publishes Blueprint for Farmworker Inclusion

2016-04-19 Comments Off on SCAA Publishes Blueprint for Farmworker Inclusion

Mostly lost last week amid all the excitement of Re:co Atlanta and The SCAA Event was the release of A Blueprint for Farmworker Inclusion.  Download the publication here, and read on for additional context. . .

The USBC Origins Project – Day One

2016-04-15 Comments Off on The USBC Origins Project – Day One

Back in Februrary, after watching the USBC Qualifying Event in Kansas City, I committed myself to this, an initiative I called the “USBC Origins Project.”  I found myself wanting more info on the coffees that baristas had so carefully chosen for their routines—who grew those coffees?  where?  how?  which exporters and importers took such good […]

CRS Policy Brief: Slave labor in Brazilian coffee. (And what we can do about it.)

2016-04-13 Comments Off on CRS Policy Brief: Slave labor in Brazilian coffee. (And what we can do about it.)

When we learned in the summer of 2013 that inspectors from Brazil’s Ministry of Labor found evidence that 15 coffee farms had employed workers under what the country calls “conditions analogous to slavery,” we were shocked.  The revelation raised lots of questions: What does “slavery” mean in Brazil in 2013?  How widespread is the practice […]

The SCAA Event: Annual Coffeelands Preview

2016-03-22 Comments Off on The SCAA Event: Annual Coffeelands Preview

In less than one month the gavel will sound to open The SCAA Event.  That means it’s time for the annual Coffeelands preview of The Event’s best “origin content.” In my 2012 SCAA preview post, I divided my picks into three “streams of enlightenment”—“downstream” presentations that push knowledge of origin toward the marketplace, “upstream” presentations […]

Review: Danwatch exposé on slavery in Brazilian coffee

2016-03-07 Comments Off on Review: Danwatch exposé on slavery in Brazilian coffee

Last week, the Danish human rights organization Danwatch released this hard-hitting exposé on modern slavery in Brazil’s coffee sector.  Rather than summarize its key findings, we suggest anyone interested in farm labor, the future of coffee supply, or the evolving conversation on coffee sustainability should read it in its entirety.  Instead, we offer something closer […]

Too little, too late on slave labor in coffee?

2016-03-04 Comments Off on Too little, too late on slave labor in coffee?

Yesterday we published this reflection on Section 910 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015—a measure that ends coffee’s 85-year-old exemption from the U.S. ban on the importation of goods produced by slave labor. By now, most readers will have seen this blistering report from the Danish human rights organization Danwatch on […]

Washington closes forced labor loophole

2016-03-03 Comments Off on Washington closes forced labor loophole

The biggest news in coffee last week did not come out of Portland or Seattle or LA, but out of Washington: President Obama signed the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 into law.  Here’s what it has to do with coffee. . .

WRAPPING UP THE PRM SERIES

2016-02-25 Comments Off on WRAPPING UP THE PRM SERIES

What have we learned about Price Risk Management from this interview series? We’ve had five very different discussions along the way – perspectives from the point of view of the cooperatives, from the exporters, from estates and from a leading broker of options and futures contracts. It was my hope that by getting diverse opinions […]