The coffeelands of Central America’s “dry corridor” are becoming major testing grounds of perseverance and innovation in the face of climate change. According to a report from the InterAmerican Institute for Agriculture Cooperation (IICA) in May 2015, “The Central American Dry Corridor and the Dry Arch area of Panama, given their long dry season and the […]
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 […]
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. . .
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 […]
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 […]
Coffee and the Global Water Crisis This post provides a summary of SCAA’s forthcoming policy brief on Water Security in the Coffeelands, to be published in mid-2016. As a prelude to this publication, the SCAA Sustainability Council has organized a panel called “Water in the Coffeelands: How Coffee Can Make Water Cleaner and Landscapes Greener” at the SCAA Expo in Atlanta (9am, Friday, April […]
SCAA Preview in Depth: The Coffee Variety Conundrum: Does Breeding for Disease Resistance Come at the Expense of Flavor? Friday, April 15th, 9AM Room B407,Spanish translation available About this time last year, my first post for the Coffeelands Blog introduced this idea- the coffee variety conundrum – namely, how difficult it is to be a […]
The Measure of Coffee’s Water Footprint Needs to Be Revised This 2003 study on coffee’s water footprint reported that it requires 140 liters of water to produce one cup of coffee. This metric is quoted so frequently (including by this blog) that it’s almost assumed to be a fact. However, the study needs a critical review because it is […]
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 […]
When I was a kid, I collected coins. I know, I know. TOTAL nerd. Eventually, I stopped collecting them. But I never really got over them. And I never got rid of them. They are still in a bedroom closet in the house where I grew up. Next to my baseball cards. Over the past […]