The study on the economic impacts of Fair Trade and organic certifications that appeared in a recent issue of Ecological Economics has prompted some good, informed discussion, but also its share of distortion. After carefully reading (and re-reading) the study, here is my take on it as someone who works with both certified and non-certified […]
Last week, articles in mainstream and industry media outlets on the economic impacts of Fair Trade on smallholder farmers caused something of a furor among coffee cognoscenti. The most serious discussion seemed to revolve around this study published in Ecological Economics. Unfortunately, in the squabble over certifications most people missed what was easily the most […]
At last month’s SCAA Symposium, we were invited to reexamine our assumptions about sustainability in coffee — what we think we know about the issue that may not be true. At the time, I thought that exercise produced some provocative responses. And then I read a recent study on the impacts of organic and Fair […]
World Fair Trade Day is observed every year on the second Saturday of May. Historically, it has been a time to educate consumers about the impacts of their consumer habits, motivate them to make socially responsible choices and celebrate the developmental advances of Fair Trade. This year, it was the occasion for something else — […]
Stories are swirling this year about one of the unforunate side effects of high prices — coffee is being stolen. And it is not just coffee that is getting lost at origin — lives are being lost, too. In El Salvador, theives recently stole coffee grown by a CRS partner cooperative and killed four security […]
Microlots may be the exclusive domain of quality-obsessed roasters who are willing to pay top dollar for the finest coffee a grower or group of growers has to offer. But that doesn’t mean that microlots don’t generate benefits for those roasters who aren’t. Microlots may help farmer organizations be better trading partners for everyone in […]
The premiere of the After the Harvest documentary at last week’s Symposium was followed by a breakout session joined by everyone interested in further exploring the issue. The participants — more than 20 in all — included well-known importers and roasters, celebrity estate farmers, non-profits working on coffee, and others more difficult to characterize. Most […]
I have been reflecting this week on some of what I considered to be the highlights of last week’s SCAA event. One of them came unexpectedly, during the Coffee Kids reception. Mike Ferguson from Batdorf & Bronson, the pioneering specialty roaster and longtime Coffee Kids supporter, offered some perspectives on the lived realities of coffee […]
There was some engaging plenary discussion on sustainability at last week’s Symposium. During one session, the facilitator broke us into small discussion groups to revisit some of the critical assumptions we make about the sustainability movement in coffee — what we think we know about the issue that may not be true. I particularly appreciated […]
The issue of seasonal hunger in the coffeelands is one that I have been addressing on this blog dating back to my first posts in late 2009, generating little apparent interest. Last week at SCAA, however, following the world premiere of the powerful documentary After the Harvest, it seemed to be all anyone wanted to […]
