283. Noteworthy at origin
2012-06-20
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Today, a roll call of recent developments at origin worthy of note: industry efforts to increase and better measure impact.
Today, a roll call of recent developments at origin worthy of note: industry efforts to increase and better measure impact.
This blog has been dominated in recent days by discussion of our involvement with one Fair Trade for All pilot project in Colombia. But the FT4All pilot is just one of countless new ideas CRS field-tests each year in its work around the world.
In yesterday’s post, I suggested that measuring the success of FTUSA’s FT4All coffee innovation pilots could be a complicated affair. The best imaginable scenario, in my mind, is an impact assessment process that is transparent, system-wide, longitudinal and conducted by an independent third party with no skin in the game. Hitting all four of those […]
Fair Trade USA is rolling out Fair Trade for All pilots with coffee estates and independent smallholder farmers all around the world. If these pilots succeed, we expect to see more and more of them. But what does success look like, and how will we measure it? I have had several good discussions of this […]
With apologies for the delay: Counter Culture Coffee has published the full report from its groundbreaking study “The Social Impact of Microlots.” Milestones and more related content from the CRS Coffeelands Blog: November 2010. Counter Culture Coffee Director Peter Giuliano discusses the potential perils of microlots with Matt Earley of Just Coffee, a Fair Trade […]
During this year’s SCAA Symposium and Expo, and the inevitable slate of follow-up calls the week after, the issue of size kept coming up in my conversations. There was the roaster that bemoaned how small it was, wishing it could do more to meet the demands of its partners. There was the roaster that felt […]
Kim Elena Ionescu probably needs no introduction. The Counter Culture Coffee Buyer and Sustainability Manager has been sourcing great coffee for years for one of the leading brands in specialty coffee. Along the way, she has been steadily moving the company toward more sustainable and transparent sourcing practices, and showing a way forward for other […]
Later this week, Counter Culture Coffee will present the results of its study “The Social Impact of Microlots” to an audience at the 2012 SCAA Expo. I am excited about the report because it directly addresses two issues that have been the source of much discussion on this blog in recent years: the potential for […]
I have been posting reflections and photos in recent weeks about the baseline study for the Borderlands Coffee Project. Today, the baseline survey begins. Over the next month, dozens of field agents will interview over 1,000 smallholder farmers as part of a thorough household-level baseline survey. See the full household-level baseline survey here.
A few weeks ago, I posted a photo essay titled “This is what a baseline looks like” to show a bit of what it means to measure impact at origin. Today, I am back in Ecuador’s northern Amazon with the capable team that will implement the baseline here beginning on Monday. Here are a few […]