Category: Farmworkers

Farmworkers and Policy: New Global Coffee Frontiers

2015-07-21 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

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 […]

Inconceivable!

2015-07-14 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

In my family, the 1987 film “The Princess Bride” is something of a tradition. I showed it to our kids early (perhaps too early for the younger ones) and we watch it often. For better or worse, references to its many memorable lines now punctuate conversations in our house. But there is one trope in […]

Coffee’s Farmworker Problem: A Coming Crisis?

2015-06-30 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Over the past year and a half, I have done some reading about two related and complementary disciplines: horizon-scanning and scenario planning. The first refers to intentional and systematic efforts to gather and analyze information about threats and opportunities that loom; the second to how we use that intelligence to identify likely future scenarios and […]

A (coffee-focused) David Letterman mash-up

2015-05-20 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Tonight is the last broadcast of the Late Show with David Letterman. In homage to his 33 years on the air, I offer this coffee-focused mash-up of the venerable “Top 10 List” and the comparatively lesser-known sketch “Is this anything?” The first needs no introduction; the second featured oddball performances by guests, then banter between […]

Why farmworkers? Why Brazil?

2015-04-21 Coffeelands Comments Off

For the second year in a row, SCAA Executive Director Ric Rhinehart included specific reference to farmworkers in his opening comments to the SCAA Symposium. And for the second year in a row, farmworker issues were discussed during a panel at The SCAA Event. The time has come for proactive engagement on farmworker issues in […]

452. The SCAA Event: The annual Coffeelands preview

2015-03-09 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

The 27th SCAA Event opens one month from today, which means it’s time for my annual SCAA preview and picks for the show’s best origin content. This year’s preview, which ran a little longer than last year’s, is thematic in focus. If you are in a hurry, or prefer a chronological format that presents the […]

450. What difference does policy make?

2015-02-26 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

The sustainability conversation in specialty coffee has evolved in important ways since I first tuned in more than 10 years ago. I find it to be more robust. More nuanced. More mature. And, well…just more. The list of topics on the industry’s sustainability agenda is longer than it was a decade ago. One topic that […]

447. Six lenses on gender

2015-02-10 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

It seems 2015 is shaping up to be the year of gender equity in specialty coffee. CQI is conducting research on the issue as part of the industry-driven Partnership for Gender Equity, and the SCAA has announced a Symposium session on gender equity–a good sign that this is an issue whose time has come. In […]

443. A Malacara reunion

2015-01-13 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

Back in September, I published this interview with my colleague Ivania, who was born as a landless worker on Finca Malacara, one of El Salvador’s most storied coffee estates. I was moved by Ivania’s story. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. José Guillermo Álvarez Prunera, the Finca Malacara owner affectionately known as “Epe,” was so […]

440. Revisiting our 2014 New Year’s resolutions

2015-01-06 Coffeelands Staff Comments Off

A year ago we made three New Year’s resolutions on this blog: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Today we revisit those resolutions to see how we did on each one in 2014.