Category: Resilience

In a time of $1.15 coffee, price risk management is of paramount importance

2015-09-23 Comments Off on In a time of $1.15 coffee, price risk management is of paramount importance

My mother is a first generation immigrant. She came to the United States with my father and three small children in the mid-1980s from the Philippines.  Like many first generation immigrants, she knows the value of a dollar and she rarely pays retail price for anything. A coupon or a sale can always be found. […]

“Nano” finance? Village savings and loans groups filling the gaps that microfinance can’t reach

2015-08-17 Comments Off on “Nano” finance? Village savings and loans groups filling the gaps that microfinance can’t reach

In a few of my recent posts, I have juxtaposed the amount of investment that is directed to the retail end of the supply chain (for example, $70 million for Blue Bottle, $9 million for a “bulletproof” coffee retail chain, etc.) versus the amount that is directed to the most vulnerable end of the supply […]

Colombia Sensory Trial: Re:co Symposium Video and Resource Page

2015-08-11 Comments Off on Colombia Sensory Trial: Re:co Symposium Video and Resource Page

Yesterday our friends at the Specialty Coffee Association of America uploaded this video of my Colombia Sensory Trial presentation to Re:co Symposium in Gothenburg, Sweden, in June. . . It was the second time in three months I had the opportunity to deliver to industry leaders the results of our sensory research collaboration with the […]

It takes a village… to save the disappearing small farmer

2015-08-03 Comments Off on It takes a village… to save the disappearing small farmer

A few weeks ago, NPR ran an article on the disappearing smallholder cocoa farmer.  A few days ago, Michael brought our attention to a Guardian article on the plight of small farmers globally, and gently reminded us that this isn’t a new story, especially not for specialty coffee. The list of challenges for small farmers […]

Farmworkers and Policy: New Global Coffee Frontiers

2015-07-21 Comments Off on Farmworkers and Policy: New Global Coffee Frontiers

In May, The Guardian published this article declaring “smallholder farmers are the new global food frontier.” The author is Hugh Locke, president and co-founder of a Haitian non-profit called Smallholder Farmers Alliance.  He reminds readers that smallholders produce 70 percent of the world’s food, argues that we are not positioning them for success and issues […]

Report from East Africa – Coffee origins with enormous potential (and enormous challenges)

2015-07-20 Comments Off on Report from East Africa – Coffee origins with enormous potential (and enormous challenges)

My fellow blog authors and I are very self-aware of Coffeelands’ biases. It is told from a (mostly) white male development professional’s perspective from Latin American origins. However, this bias is not reflective of the global reach of CRS’ coffee programming. In addition to our five active coffee projects in Latin America, we currently have […]

Coffee Supply Chain’s Hidden Heroes

2015-07-08 Comments Off on Coffee Supply Chain’s Hidden Heroes

Hollywood loves a good comeback story.  So when I think of the struggles of a coffee community in Honduras called Opatoro, I can’t help but think of them in terms of a Hollywood script.  The pitch might go something like this: In 2012, Dunia Martínez, newly elected mayor of Opatoro in rural Honduras, began receiving […]

What does private investment into coffee farms look like?

2015-06-22 Comments Off on What does private investment into coffee farms look like?

I’m going to be honest with all of you. I don’t have a lot of material to work with on this topic. I’ve been talking to a lot of people about this and looking all around Central America for examples of private investment in coffee farms. We all know about the pioneering work of Root […]

The Machete vs the Hoe

2015-06-18 Comments Off on The Machete vs the Hoe

Blessed is the Machete A machete makes a wonderful wedding gift. After working many years with farmers around the world, I learned to value the multiple functions a machete offers a family: it’s a knife, a lawn mower, vegetable peeler, screwdriver, tree pruner, and so much more. A few years ago, my friends Sara and […]

Equal. Different.

2015-06-16 Comments Off on Equal. Different.

I explained here last week that we subjected the Castillo and Caturra samples we collected for the Colombia Sensory Trial to two different kinds of sensory evaluation: two cupping panels at Intelligentsia Roasting Works in Chicago that applied the CQI’s Q protocols and two sensory panels at the Sensory Analysis Center at Kansas State University […]

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