Tag Archives: market

Developing the specialty market for robusta with the first “Taza Dorada” in Ecuador

2016-08-16 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

The Borderlands project took place on two sides of the Colombian – Ecuadorian border. In Nariño we know about the hidden potential to produce high quality Arabica coffees. We’ve shared some of the stories from there previously on this blog. Less than 100 miles away, while the Andes mountains continue tracing the spine of South […]

Conversations in PRM, part 5: The HOW to get price insurance

2016-02-01 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

For the final (for now…) Price Risk Management conversation, I wanted to go in a different direction. So far we have heard about a PRM perspective for cooperatives, estates, small farms and from the exporter. Our conversation today is with someone who really understands the mechanics of how price insurance and hedging with futures work. […]

Conversations in PRM, part 4: PRM options for the individual smallholder

2016-01-11 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

During the last months of 2015, I had posted a number of conversations regarding price risk management (Intro; part 1; part 2; part 3) all with the goal of better understanding the topic and how we might better use these tools to protect cooperatives and other farmer associations. Today I want to pick up the […]

Conversations in PRM, part 3: Jorge Cuevas – A shared cost approach to price insurance

2015-11-23 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

“Price Risk Management is one of the most misunderstood topics of the coffee crop cycle.” This is how my conversation on PRM with Jorge Cuevas, the Chief Coffee Officer for Sustainable Harvest, began. Sustainable Harvest has been training cooperatives and incorporating the use of price insurance for many of their client cooperatives. It’s part of […]

Perspectives on PRM, part 1: Ed Canty – “risk management is everyone’s business”

2015-09-28 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

A few days ago, I wrote about the need for producers to manage their exposure to price. Let’s start with a disclosure: I have no formal financial training. However, my work with the coffee sector, I recognize that my focus has been on mitigating the risks on the production side – climate change, diseases – […]

Side selling to the ghost of Hugo Chávez

2015-08-31 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

Side-selling. Side selling refers to a situation where a producer (or cooperative) does not comply with a contract and chooses to sell their coffee to someone else. This can happen in markets with rising coffee prices, when the local price for the coffee exceeds the price agreed upon in a contract. When farmers, or their […]

A Napa valley vineyard – a glimpse into the future of coffee farming?

2015-07-06 Kraig Kraft Comments Off

(I’m interrupting my series on investment in farms for a few posts on current topics) I’m currently in Northern California visiting family for the week and happened to have a serendipitous encounter with the CEO of a mid-size winery in the Napa Valley while camping with friends. This winery is probably a label that Ric […]