Category: Coffee Research

413. Farmworkers and Fair Trade

2014-07-01 Comments Off on 413. Farmworkers and Fair Trade

In May, researchers at the Fairtrade, Employment and Poverty Reduction program at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London released a report based on four years of intensive field research in Ethiopia an Uganda whose findings were critical of Fair Trade’s record on farmworkers.   I only just got around to reading the full […]

382. The Castillo-Caturra cage match

2014-01-27 Comments Off on 382. The Castillo-Caturra cage match

At the top of our list of New Year’s resolutions for 2014 is a comparative cupping of leading Colombian varieties.  In a snarky Tweet earlier this month that invoked the glorious Latin American tradition of lucha libre, I referred to it as a “steel cage match” between Castillo and Caturra.  But this is not a […]

378. New Year’s resolutions

2014-01-07 Comments Off on 378. New Year’s resolutions

It’s that time of year again — the time we all make New Year’s resolutions that are destined to be broken.  So here are three from the coffeelands: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Only we plan on keeping these.

361. What to do about coffee rust?

2013-05-28 Comments Off on 361. What to do about coffee rust?

There has been a lot of talk in recent months about coffee leaf rust in Central America, including plenty here on this blog.  After months of talking with farmers, collecting data in the field, participating in international events, conferring with leaders in the coffee, government and research sectors, and investing private resources in a small-scale […]

359. Coffee rust: Your tax dollars at work

2013-05-15 Comments Off on 359. Coffee rust: Your tax dollars at work

Three years ago during the 2010 SCAA Expo, I gave this presentation on hunger in the coffeelands.  At that time, the issue did not have the kind of traction in the industry it does now.  Many people in the audience were still struggling to reconcile the extraordinary success of “sustainable coffees” in the marketplace with […]

358. Diversify, diversify, diversify.

2013-05-14 Comments Off on 358. Diversify, diversify, diversify.

The coffee leaf rust crisis in Central America has gotten people talking about diversification.  At the First International Coffee Rust Summit in Guatemala last month, participants advocated passionately (and persuasively) for diversification of coffee genetics and coffee farms.  There is a third type of diversification that wasn’t discussed in depth but remains critical to the […]

356. Coffee rust: An inconvenient truth

2013-05-06 Comments Off on 356. Coffee rust: An inconvenient truth

The application of climate science to coffee has generated an inconvenient truth: the map of the coffeelands in Mesoamerica will be redrawn over the next 40 years, and by 2050 the specialty coffee map will likely be much smaller than it is today.  Against the backdrop of the current coffee rust epidemic in Central America, […]

352. Overheard at the Coffee Rust Summit

2013-04-19 Comments Off on 352. Overheard at the Coffee Rust Summit

The first day of the First International Coffee Rust Summit is in the books.  My plans to Tweet from the event were foiled by connectivity problems.  Will try again on day two.  Meantime, here are some of the quotes and notes that stood out for me from the first full day of proceedings.

349. Coffee rust: Central America’s official plan of attack

2013-04-16 Comments Off on 349. Coffee rust: Central America’s official plan of attack

This afternoon I will travel to Guatemala City to participate in four days of discussions around coffee rust convened by World Coffee Research and PROMECAFE, a network of national coffee programs in Central America and the Caribbean.  The objective of the meeting is to develop a more detailed strategy for responding to the coffee rust […]